A Rare Gem
by just.pretty.words
Summary: There was a prophecy. A water and fire demon would breed and create a powerful mixed demon. Since water and fire demons are mortal enemies, no one believed such a thing would happen. But it has, and now she must face her fate and try and take control of her fire side before anyone can find her and use her for evil. Unfortunately, there is only one fire demon around to help; Hiei.
1. Chapter 1

Make-up bag, check; deodorant, check; face cleanser, toner, and moisturizer, check; toothpaste—_Hey Mr. Grumpy Gills—_Clown Fish, check. Wait, what? I looked up from my backpack with a frown wondering where this sound was coming from. _When life gets you down, you know what you gotta do?_ I looked over at my pillow and there was my blackberry blinking. Ugh, if I'm forced to say good bye one more time...

I didn't bother looking at caller ID; I simply clicked the "Accept" button and instantly heard someone crying. The moment I placed my phone to my ear, without saying a word, a voice basically yelled in my ear. "Do you really have to go?!"

With a wince I changed ears and rubbed my other ear that was now ringing. I guess my best friend Jessie will never accept the fact that I have to move, no matter how many times I've had to tell her. "Yes, Jessie. We've been through this, it's what my mom wants and I think it would be good for her."

"But what about you?! Can't you live with your dad?" I heard Jessie pull a tissue out of a tissue box and wipe her nose. She knew better than to actually blow it, no one knows better than her on how much I hate that sound.

"You know I can't do that." Me? Live with my dad and skank of a girlfriend? No thanks, would much rather live closer to my grand-parents in Japan.

Jessie wasn't going to give up on this one. "You can live with me!"

I flopped down on my naked bed with a sigh. I don't know how many times I've been through this with her. There was no way I could back out of this, especially since my flight left in four hours. I pinched the top of my nose and frowned, trying to hold off the tears. "Jessie..."

"Okay, okay..." I got the impression that Jessie was in the same position I was in but on a bed with sheets and a blanket. "This is just... hard. You know?"

"I know."

Silence.

I couldn't handle this silence so I broke it. "So, we're still on for coffee right?"

"Yeah, I'm actually leaving right now to come pick you up."

"Okay, I'll be waiting."

Neither one of us said goodbye. We both knew our conversation was done.

After I threw my phone beside my backpack I remained lying down and covered my eyes with a sigh. I couldn't bring myself to cry, it felt like I've been crying enough these past few months that I just couldn't do it anymore. My tear ducts must be broken... But I guess that's what happens when you accept the fact that this choice is for the best.

"Aly-Jay! Please tell me you're done packing!" I looked over at my open door as my mom yelled from the living room down stairs.

"Yes, Mom! Just checking to make sure I didn't forget anything"

I pushed myself up and walked back to my bag. Good, just enough room to stuff my smaller pillow. Before I grabbed my pillow I walked over to my bathroom to make sure I didn't forget anything. I took one step into the bathroom and had to stop. Seeing the whole room bare was depressing, especially since it made it so obvious that I was moving. I only took one look around before I turned and walked back to my bag. Everything was gone other than our shower curtain. I quickly stuffed my pillow and struggled to close my backpack. After I tried to pick it up I almost dropped it to the floor. Good think I caught it; I didn't want to drop my laptop.

By the time I dropped my bag in the foyer I heard Jessie pull up into our drive way. I quickly put my flats on and grabbed my purse hanging by the front door.

"Don't forget that you need to be back here in two hours for us to make our flight," my mom said as she moved into the kitchen.

I looked at my mother over my shoulder. It was hard to miss how beautiful my mom is. And it was equally hard to miss that my half Japanese heritage came from my mothers side of the family. In fact, my mother and I look so much alike that people couldn't believe that my white father actually contributed to my birth. One of the only differences was that my mom's hair is jet black while mine is a light brown from my fathers side. The other difference was our height. While my mom was a little under the average height I was a whopping 4'8". That has always been something I couldn't get over. Other than that we both had dark brown eyes, hair going down to our waist, and being way tougher than we look.

I let her know I heard and ran out the door. When Jessie saw me walking down the front steps I saw her put down her iPhone. As I crawled into her seat Jessie said, "I was just calling you. Your timing is awesome."

"What can I say? I'm talented"

"You sure are." Jessie flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and pulled out of the driveway. "So where are we off to? Starbucks?"

I gave it a thought. "Hmm, you know what? How about Tim Horton's? I'm sure Japan will have a Starbucks. I've got to have my final true Canadian fix before I have to say bye for good."

Jessie paused for a second to stare at me. "Timmy's it is!"

By the time we got there the place looked crowded. "What the fuck?" I questioned. "Since when has any Tim Horton's in Vancouver been full?"

"I don't know." Jessie had a knowing smile on her face as she stepped out of the car. I frowned at her but didn't question.

"AJ!"

"Jay-Jay!"

"Shorty!"

I barely had time to even step into the coffee place before I got pounced on by at least four people. The impact from my friends was so strong that I was a surprise that we didn't fall to the ground. None of them let go of me right away so when I opened my eyes I realized that I wasn't that far off when it came to falling to the floor. Because I was so much shorter than everyone else they had to bend over to hug me but since it was so awkward I was actually bending over as well. At this position I might as well be laying flat on the floor.

I was kind of amused by that until I realized I couldn't breath. "Um... guys? I love you and everything but I seriously can't breath right now."

All of them apologized as they let go.

"Come on, we already ordered for you." Emily grabbed my wrist and pulled me to our table. "Large coffee, double double, plain bagel and a blueberry muffin... Fatty"

I practically squealed as I jumped into my chair.

Melissa snorted and she took her seat. "Fatty? Have you actually looked Shorty lately? I don't think Aly-Jay and fatty should be in the same sentence unless 'is definitely not' is between the two words."

I rolled my eyes as I took a sip of coffee. "It's only because I-"

"You dance so much. We know." Jessie playfully glared at me as she took a bite out of her bagel.

Actually, it was a little more than that but it's not something I could actually share with them. I gently toyed with the gold bracelets around my wrists. They looked really plain and thin, like bangles, and I had one on each wrist. While they looked fragile I refused to take them off. I needed them to keep my secret safe. While I continued to toy with my bracelets I looked over all my friends. In total there were five of us and we were all crowded around a small table. I loved them all so much but there was no way I could tell them my secret. No one can know...

Tracy pulled her dark brown hair up into a messy bun while she started conversation. "So, seriously, why do you have to leave for Japan now? It's our senior year and school is almost over. Can't you wait until July? I mean, come on. All of us have been friends since the beginning of time." Emily cleared her throat. "Okay, since the beginning of high school. We should all graduate together."

I gave all of them a half smile. "You know I would love to graduate with you guys. But this is something that my mom needs and she really wants me to go with her. Besides, I really think it would be a good idea for my mom. After all that she had to deal with because of my dad... She doesn't deserve to be around all that drama. She needs a fresh start.  
"Yeah but Japan?" Jessie might as well have jumped up waving her hands in the air because she was so loud. I shook my head at her with a smile. She could never control her volume.

I shrugged. "Her parents are there. And I think she wants me to experience the culture Japan has to offer before I get too old. Besides, I don't plan on living there for the rest of my life. I can't leave you guys like that. Honestly, I think that would be physically impossible. The world might end or something." We all giggled. "So you guys have to think of this less of a good bye and more like me going on an extended vacation."

"Good-bye or extended vacation, this still sucks." Jessie pouted at me. I couldn't resist petting her head like I would a dog. That lead her to glare at me again.

As the conversation shifted I couldn't help by let my mind drift as I watched everyone. It often amazes me how we're all friends. We are all so different that you'd think we'd clash. There's Emily, the smart "nerdy" one; Melissa, the jokester; Tracy, the "girlie" one that couldn't seem to stay single for very long; and Jessie, the hyper one that—and I quote—"just doesn't give a fuck" on what people think of her. Bless her heart. While our little "group" formed at the beginning of high school. Jessie and I had known each other since we were kids. We grew up together and I know that me leaving would be the hardest on her.

"Wakey, wakey!" Jessie waved her hand in my face.

"There she goes again. Jay-Jay, you really got to work on that whole 'introvert' thing." Tracy smiled and took a bite out of her bagel.

"Sorry," I said, trying to keep a straight face. "I was just thinking on how grateful I was that I'm the normal one out of the group." They all laughed as if I said the funniest joke in the world. "Oh shut up." They laughed even harder. I gave them all a glare before I looked down at my watch. Ah, shit. "Well, I hate to say but I've got to get going. I've got to be at the airport in half an hour." That stopped them all from laughing.

After we all said our tearful good bye I climbed back into Jessie's car. While I knew all of them wanted to see me off at the airport all of them had work or homework.

Jessie and I could only sit in silence when we finally parked in front of my house. We had said goodbye so many times at this point we couldn't say it again, it was too painful. At this point all we did was stare at each other for a second before I gave her a tight hug. After exchanging quiet goodbyes I got out of the car and walked to the house. I didn't hear Jessie drive off until I closed the door behind me.

By the time I put my purse on the hanger my mom had walked into the foyer. "You ready to go?"

I shrugged. "I guess." I went to grab my backpack that was sitting by my two luggage bags.

The grunt that I let out when I pulled my bag over my shoulder was unavoidable. My mother gave me a knowing smile and she gently placed her bag over her shoulder with ease. I gave her a gentle glare. After blowing my side bangs out of my eyes I grabbed both luggage bags and headed to the door.

Just as Mom and I got to the curb our cab pulled up. My mom has good timing… How did she know when to call? Not like it was obvious when I'd be back home… Oh, right… family talent. At that thought I wrapped my hands around my wrist where my gold bangle type bracelets rested.

I was grateful for the bracelets. After the event that almost ruined my normal life I wanted nothing more than to forget. But there were definitely times when I would get restless, when I couldn't stand still and just needed to let out all that energy. And that's why my mom put me in ballet, I needed some kind of distraction that drained part of my energy.

My mother looked down at my hands and looked back at me. She gave me a small smile but I knew it was fake by the hint of guilt in her eyes. I quickly smiled and climbed into the taxi.

By the time we got to the Vancouver airport I was beginning to feel uneasy. This move was actually happening. I had to say goodbye to the Canadian culture and jump head first into a totally different one...

We made our way through the airport with ease and through the check in. Security went by rather quickly and I tuned out the boredom of waiting to board the plane. Before I knew it I was up in the air flying to Japan. Unlike everyone else I actually liked sitting at the window seat. Most people find it too squishy but since I'm so short I don't mind at all. I'm short enough where I can almost curl into a ball and sleep alright, plus I like looking out the window. It makes me feel like I'm actually flying.

When we reached maximum height I decided to watch a few movies. Time flew by a lot faster that way so a few movies later there was an announcement saying that we would be landing soon. I'm going to have to get this whole language thing kicking in. Thank god Mom made sure I grew up around it. But that didn't help the fact that I was never around it all the time and made me worry a little. I didn't want to make a fool out of myself, bad enough that I'm the new kid.

I started to play with the end of my braid that I had put in half way through the flight. The nerves were really starting to kick in, I really have moved to Japan now.

"It's going to be okay, Aly-Jay. It's not like you've never been to Japan before," my mom said in a kind voice. Crap, the language transition has officially started. She placed her hand on my lap in comfort, which I was grateful for.

I offered a meek smile. "Of course it's going to be okay. Besides, I'll get to see more of grand-ma and grand-pa right?"

She gave a small nod with a smile as she unbuckled her seat-belt.

It felt like getting off the plane look longer than getting through security. I needed to walk around, sitting for too long didn't suit with me—no matter how short my legs are. Plus, I really need to take a shower or something. Flying always makes me feel dirty and gross.

As my mom tried to find a cab I took a deep breath and looked around. I felt a sense of comfort being here. Part of this place kind of reminds me of Vancouver, other than the lack of English anyways. Maybe this wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. I just have to think of it as a simple every other kind of move. Not a move to a whole new country. That thought didn't stop my need for a bath.

Finally Mom was able to get a cab. During the ride to our new place I just stared out the window. While part of my mind was focused on memorizing the streets so I could get around, the other just enjoyed looking at the city life. By the time we stopped we had arrived in a part of town that was less busy and more... homey. The streets weren't as busy and all the buildings were apartments—with the exception of a couple corner stores. I followed my mother out of the cab and while she paid the driver I grabbed our luggage.

"We're on the fourth floor and my parents confirmed that they made sure all of our stuff is in our apartment." Mom took a deep breath in contentment before she lead the way to our new place.

Thank god I'm stronger than I look, but carrying our luggage up four flights of stairs was definitely hard... very hard. Ugh, Mom and her "character building."

Both Mom and I looked at each other when we arrived at our door. Mom gave a smile while I returned with a smirk. This is it, I'm about to enter my new home. As Mom started to unlock the door it felt like it was going in slow motion.

The door opened to reveal a nice open living room with hard wood floor. In the middle of the room there seemed to be a little table close to floor with pillows all around it. A place for tea I guess. It would've seemed a lot more traditional if it weren't for the fact that there were boxes everywhere.

My mom placed her luggage next to the small table before she turned to me. "I'll show you where your room will be, then I'll let you take a bath." She knows me so well...

I followed her to the right where there was a hall way. My room was the second door to the left, the first being the main bathroom. There was one door to the right, which turned out to be a little closet for towels and blankets.

It was a good side room. There was already a double size bed made up and ready for sleep. It looked like a black captains bed frame but without the storage under the bed. Not like there was enough room for them anyways. Just like the living room, the floors were hard wood with beige paint on the walls—I'll have to remember to paint that later. To the left of the room, close to the door leading to a balcony, was my closet that had some of my clothes that I had sent a couple days ago. It was a walk-in but only enough for two steps, big enough for me I guess. I still have my dresser if I need it.

With that step out of the way I placed my two luggage bags at the end of my bed and took out my laptop and pillow from my backpack. Next were my pointe shoes. I paused a moment and stared at them with a weak smile. I couldn't help but simply be happy just staring at them, they were my passion and my distraction. Whenever I was down I would put them on and dance in the living room. They even reminded me of my mother. Every time I put them on or got ready to go to my ballet class my mother would smile as she watched me. She was happy that I was able to live a life that she couldn't. A normal life, she told me. I placed them on my bed and brought the whole bag with me to the bathroom since I will need almost everything in it. My toiletries and a spare change of clothes.

I had to admit the bathroom was pretty cool. The bathtub was shaped with four corners like a rectangle and directly in front of the door and basically in the floor with a wooden frame around it, there was only half a step up made of the same wood as the frame. The toilet and sink had the same sort of four corners shape to the right a few steps away from the tub. There was even a little door to the left that had such thick glass that I could barely see threw. I thought it was a little closet for towels and such but it turned out to be a little shower. That is awesome.

Another step done, now it's bath time. I let the hot water run as I began to undress and untied my hair. I shook out my hair a bit and looked in the mirror. My hair was now a bit wavy from the braid but other than that I still saw my light brown hair with the side bangs and brown eyes that now had little bags under them. Ugh, bath, now.

I took that first small step and checked the temperature; perfect. When I sat on on the edge of the tub and put my feet in the water I realized just how deep the tub was. It was so deep that there was even a little seat to one side. When I sat down the water was at the bottom of my neck, and there was still plenty of room for more. For the first fifteen minutes I just sat there and let the water help relax me. After that I focused on the whole "cleaning" thing. My bath took even longer because I covered all the basics. I love wasting time sometimes...

Even after I was done with my bath I just sat there for an other five minutes, soaking in the last of my relaxing bath. But, alas, I was starting to turn into a prune so I drained the water and stepped out.

I quickly dried off and started digging through my stuff. There was a tight blank tank top, a blue low V-neck shirt, grey Lulu Lemon pants, and my underwear. Good thing I brought a thong, otherwise my underwear would be totally obvious under my pants. I put it all on and took off the towel that was over my head. I placed both towels on the rack between the shower and the bathtub.

After I brushed my hair and put it in a messy bun I put on some eyeliner and mascara. I grabbed all my stuff and put them in my room. It wasn't until I was checking my phone when I heard my mom talking to someone.

"Mom?" I called as I walked out of my bedroom. I looked to my left and noticed that my mom wasn't in her room. When she obviously wasn't to my left I turned to my right and headed towards the living room. "Mom?"

Just as I stepped into the living room Mom came in from the kitchen holding a box. There were holes on the top and I could have sworn I saw it move a little. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Since I know you take forever in the bath I decided to go get something for you. A house warming gift, if you will."

We met half way so I could take the box away from my mom. It was a lot lighter than I thought it would be but there was definitely something alive in there. Slowly, with one hand holding the box at the bottom, I pulled the up the top of the box to reveal a small kitten. I instantly smiled. He is so cute with his pure white base coat with four grey spots. On on the top of his head that came down the side of his face—almost like the Phantom of the Opera—one right in the middle of his back, a small one over his bum that left a little room of white before his grey tail.

He looked over my mom first and hissed, but when he looked over at me he only just looked at me in suspicion. His fur never changed but he didn't hiss. I'll take that as a good sign.

"I guess he likes you more than he thanks me," my mom said with a giggle.

"He'll get used to the place, I'm sure," I replied, my smile never fading.

My mom leaned over the box to peer inside again but the kitten only hissed again. "What are you going to name him?"

I thought for a second. "Mizu."

Mom gave me a knowing look. "Japanese for water?"

"Seems fitting," I said with a wink.

"Very true. All of the cat stuff is on balcony. There obviously wasn't enough room to put it in here. Go check."

I looked to the right, and there was a sliding door leading to a balcony—I guess I didn't see it before from all the boxes. Before I went outside I let Chi out of his box. At first he just stood there and looked around then when he seemed alright with his surroundings he went exploring in the direction of my bedroom. When I didn't see him anymore I headed to the door. I didn't step out but I did open the door and stuck my head out. Right in front of me was a litter box with kitty litter already in it. Next to the box was extra litter and food with trays, even some cat toys. I looked to my right and realized that the whole balcony went all along the apartment and ended at my moms room.

"So here is the reason why you stayed away from home for so long, Kasumi."

I quickly looked towards an unfamiliar male voice. I frowned at him, he seemed too young to be friends with my mom and too weird. Who gets a tattoo on their forehead? Especially one that says "Jr".


	2. Chapter 2

"It's so nice to finally meet you Aly-Jay." The young man extended his hand but all I could do was stare at it. There was something off about this guy. It was something I wasn't comfortable with yet... I couldn't help but feel like I should know him. I looked over at my mother with a frown while she offered me a soft smile. The man lowered his hand while he faked an expression of hurt feelings. "Did your mother not tell you about me? I'll admit, I'm kind of hurt."

My mother simply shrugged. "There was no reason to talk about you. But because of your unexpected visit." I didn't miss the glare she sent his way. "Aly-Jay, this is Koenma. He's a... prince... I guess."

I raised an eyebrow as I asked, "A prince?" _With a retarded tattoo on his forehead?_

"Yes. A prince from... Spirit World."

Before I could stop myself, I snapped my head to look at my mother. Without even thinking, I touched one of my bracelets. That didn't go unnoticed to Koenma.

"Ah, now I see. I was wondering why I couldn't sense her powers." He turned to face my mother. "You did a good job with that, I must say."

All of a sudden my mother looked exhausted. "Look Koenma, I really don't think right now is the right time to talk about this. We just arrived from Canada. Let us get a chance to rest."

Koenma nodded and apologized. After he and my mother exchanged goodbyes he finally left. I frowned at the closed door, still confused by his visit. While I knew it was time for me to turn to Japan—I could only be bound for so long—I didn't expect to ever meet Koenma. Especially so soon. When I turned to my mother she gave me a soft smile and turned to some boxes.

"So, what do you say? Should we start to unpack?"

I moved to the nearest box. "Why was he here?"

"He knows about you. You're very special, Aly-Jay, he wanted to meet you. He wanted to know if the stories actually came true."

I opened the box and saw plates covered in newspapers. As I frowned at them I couldn't help but think about what my mother said. I took the box and moved it to the kitchen. Two hours later we had made quite a bit of progress. I could now see over all the piles, but those two hours had exhausted me. After saying goodnight to my mother I went to my room and got ready for bed. I searched through both luggage's to find a baggy shirt and short shorts to sleep in. Once I changed I quickly checked my closet for my school uniform. Ugh, uniform. I've always been curious about uniforms but now that I'm actually being forced to wear one, I'm not too excited.

On that delightful note, I crawled into bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

The first thing I noticed when I woke up was that there was something warm and furry under my neck. Confused and still very tired I sat up and saw Mizu laying as long as he could go. I gave him a slight poke to see if he was sleeping. All he did was give a small purr. Yup, out cold. As I did a very cat like stretch I looked at my phone with a frown. I could have sworn I set an alarm for this morning.

_Beep. Beep. Beep._

I rolled my eyes before turning off the alarm. As I jumped out of bed Mizu gave a small meow before getting up himself. While I put on my uniform Mizu went on exploring my room. If I didn't know better he was making sure he knew his complete surroundings like the back of his... paw. After I pulled on the green jacket I headed to the kitchen.

As I thought, there was mother cooking breakfast. When I took my seat at the breakfast table some pancakes were placed in front of me. I said a quick thank you before I started to dig in.

My mother chuckled but didn't comment on my eager eating. She knew my reasons. "Will you need help finding your school?"

I shook my head. We had talked about it yesterday while we were unpacking. "It's walking distance, I can handle it." As I finished my breakfast Mizu came running in at full force, but the moment he saw my mother he ran right out with the same force as when he came in.

My mother could only scare after him before she said, "He really doesn't like me, huh? Did he sleep with you at all?"

"Kind of. He was still exploring by the time I went to bed, but when I woke up he was sleeping under my neck."

After a small laugh my mother added, "He must really trust you. And like the warmth you probably gave him."

"Probably." I placed my plate in the sink and ran off to the bathroom to quickly brush my hair and pull it up into a messy bun using my goody's spin pins. I went to grab my messenger bag from my room and headed out the door after saying goodbye to my mother.

Since I was still pretty early I took my time walking to school. This whole part of town was so homey. The streets weren't busy and the yards were neat. It was kind of weird. While Vancouver isn't big compared to other cities, whenever I walked around town there were cars everywhere. This place was so quiet. Kind of peaceful. Yeah, totally weird... But I think I could get used to this...

The closer I got to the school the more students I came across. I took a look at the small watch on my wrist and saw that I was still early. I knew people took school really seriously close to the end of the school year but I thought this was a bit extreme. I needed to be early to get all my classes organized but I didn't see any reason for these guys to be. It got a little worse when I entered the school gates. There was quite a bit of students in groups with books in their laps going over notes while I saw others heading into the building. While I made my observations, I also noticed that the other students did to. I didn't miss the looks I got as I walked towards the school. Awesome, "New Girl" here I come...

After making my way into the school I headed towards the office. I tried my best at making my accent sound "normal" while I introduced myself but judging the look on the receptionists face it was clear that I'm not from Japan... Great. Thankfully she didn't comment on it and just went straight into finding my paper work. I was given my class schedule, locker number, and some paper work about entry exams for university. I had to refrain myself from giving a "Whoa, whoa, whoa!" at the last one. I didn't really plan on staying here long enough to attend university. The plan was to train and go back home... I hope...

"Will you require a pupil to show you around?" I started to lift my hand to offer a polite "no". "Ah, Ms. Yukimura, will you come here a second."

I turned to the direction of where the receptionist was looking. There stood a beautiful student with long dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. Upon hearing her name she placed some papers on the desk in front of her and came to stand beside me. She did a double take at my height but quickly covered it with a smile.

"Yes?"

"Would you be willing to show Ms. Brooks where her classes will be."

"Of course," she said with a gentle smile. As we both walked out of the office she asked for my class schedule. "Are you just joining the school now, Ms. Brooks?"

I nodded. "Please call me Aly-Jay, and yeah, it was my mom's crazy idea to transfer me with only one month of school left."

She gave me another surprised look. "Oh, are you not from around here?"

"Nope, I'm from Canada actually. My stronger language is English so if I mess something up, please correct me."

She giggled slightly. "Well, you're doing a good job so far. My name is Keiko by the way."

"Hey, Keiko! Who's the shorty?"

We both turned to see two other girls running towards us. I refrained from making a rude comment. It's been so long since someone has actually commented on my height.

"Guys-"

"No, it's okay," I interrupted. "I was actually born prematurely." While it was slightly true, it wasn't the whole story. But they seemed to accept that.

After Keiko exchanged greetings and promises to meet up later the other girls left while Keiko returned to showing me my classes. She took a quick look over them. "Hey, we happen to have last period together. Have you been here long?"

I shook my head. "I actually arrived yesterday morning."

"Oh, maybe after school I can show you around the area. If you want, that is."

"Sure." And with that she showed me where my classes were, the last classroom being my first period. Good thing too, because by the time we made it the first bell rang. We exchanged goodbyes then I went into the classroom. I sat in the back corner hoping to avoid any awkward "Let's welcome the new girl" moments.

Unfortunately, I wasn't so lucky, but the good side was that it didn't happen for every single one of my classes. However, on other negative note, by the time I had reached my last class my bag was filled with text books and another one in my hands. Oh, and this language transition was seriously kicking my ass. While I could understand everything there were times when people would talk so fast that I had no choice but to actually focus on what everyone was saying. So much for my daydreaming days...

When I finally got to my last class I swear my brain was starting to melt. Mother seriously should have planned flights so I arrived on a Saturday... There were two empty seats left in my last class, right smack in the middle of the classroom. I sat down and rested my head on my hand so I could rest my eyes for a second.

"Aly-Jay!" I opened my eyes to see Keiko taking the seat next to me. "I hope your day is going well so far."

I gave her a soft smile. "As well as I could given that I'm here so late in the year."

"Yeah, I can understand that."

Before I could add to the conversation the professor had entered to begin class. Oh, thank god, she's not a fast talker. While history isn't my strongest subject, I was at least able to follow along and not look like a total fool in front of Keiko. With that being said, I still couldn't help take a deep breath when class ended.

I gathered my notes and text books and pulled my bag over my shoulder. Keiko's offer to hang out after school wasn't forgotten but I definitely didn't want to sound desperate for friends by asking if it was still on.

"I hope your day hasn't been too hard for you, Aly-Jay," Keiko said, as we both walked out of class. "I'm sure jumping into all this must be difficult."

With a shrug I shifted my books in my hands. "It wasn't as bad as I thought, to be honest. The hardest part is getting used to the language. I've never been around it for such a long period of time."

"You're still doing a good job if it makes you feel any better. I also know a little bit of English from a couple classes. So if you like I can give it a short."

I couldn't help but let out a soft laugh. "No, you don't have to do that. I really need to work on my Japanese since I officially live here and all."

She nodded in agreement. We walked in silence until we reached the main doors. "Are you still up to me showing you around town? That is, unless you have something planned already."

I shifted the books in my hands and the heavy bag on my shoulder. Fighting a grunt, I said, "Sure. But if you don't mind, I'd like to stop at my place to get rid of this load."

"Of course. I can only image how heavy that bag is." Keiko smiled as we finally walked out off the school grounds.

"Hey, Keiko! Took you long enough!"

For the second time today we both turned to see who was yelling at Keiko.

"Yusuke!" Keiko seemed surprised for a second before looking down a me with a guilty expression.

There were two boys, around our age, leaning against the walls blocking our school. One looked kind of bulky with a square face and an old shade of orange hair. The other looked more lean and had greased back black hair. Ewe, shower much?

"Don't tell me you forgot about our plans today," the guy with black hair said as both boys walked towards us. "You've been bugging me about it all weekend."

"Oh, I know, Yusuke, I guess I forgot this morning. I got distracted when I showed Aly-Jay, here, around school."

When Yusuke and I made eye contact I got a sudden chill down my spine. He looked me up and down trying to measure my height but didn't comment. The other guy, however, was a little more obvious. He actually leaned forward and basically got right in my face as he looked me up and down.

"Whoa! You've got to be the same height as-"He didn't get to finish his sentence before Yusuke whacked him over the head.

I raised my eyebrow at their behaviour but didn't think much of it. Typical boy behaviour if you ask me. That and I figured he might have a doll somewhere in his room and didn't understand that something like that shouldn't be shared so openly. Keiko offered me an apologetic smile while Yusuke and the orange haired guy punched it out.

When they finally finished, Yusuke straightened himself and turned to Keiko as if nothing happened. "So, Keiko, are we going to hang out or what?"

Keiko turned to me. "Well..."

I knew where this was heading. It's obvious that these two have something going on and I didn't want to get in the middle of their plans. I lifted my hand and shook my head. "Don't worry about me. You go hang out with your friends. Besides, I still have some unpacking to do."

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. It was nice meeting you." Before I left I turned to the boys. "Bye, Yusuke. Ginger." I still didn't know the orange haired guy's name but it seemed rude to simply ignore him.

As I was walking away the guy yelled, "My name is Kuwabara!" I kept walking without turning around as I gave a small wave to show that I heard.

The walk home was longer than the walk to school. I wasn't in any hurry to get home and I still couldn't get over how peaceful this walk was. Oh, that and my bag was seriously weighing me down. When I finally did get home I was greeted with a tiny "meow" as Mizu came running to the front door. The moment he saw it was me he stopped, made a tiny sound that had my heart melt, and ran off again. I chuckled as I took off my shoes and went to drop my bag in my room.

Well... fuck. I could have sworn I got farther into my unpacking yesterday. I looked around the room to see plenty of unopened boxes and clothes hanging out of luggage bags. After dropping my school bag on my bed I sighed. To do all my homework or to finish my room. Homework. Room. Through the corner of my eye I spotted my laptop sitting on the desk I set up yesterday. Room it is! At least that way I can listen to music and dance around the boxes.

It took me almost two hours to finish my room but when I finally finished and changed out of my uniform I moved onto my homework. I spread my books in a semicircle and sat in front of them with my legs crossed. Before I got started I looked over at the little cat bed I set up and saw Mizu staring at me. When he noticed I had gotten comfortable he got up and jumped onto the bed. I watched him for a second, wondering what he was doing. He stared right back at me, then to my complete shock, he climbed onto my lap and curled into a ball between my legs. I could only stare as he purred until he fell asleep.

He loves me... He actually loves me... I chuckled at myself for a second then got started on my homework. It wasn't until I finished my last question when my mother got home. I looked at the clock beside my bed and saw that it was almost 6:30. Where had she been all day? It's not like she has a job yet... I don't think. I jumped out of bed and went to the living room. I found my mother taking off her coat and opening her mouth.

Before she could say anything she spotted me in the corner of her eye. "Oh! I was just about to call you to see if you were home. I'm surprised. Not out partying with your new friends?" I rolled my eyes, which made my mom chuckle. "How was your first day?"

I shrugged. "Overwhelming, but good. Where did you go today? I didn't think you had a job or anything..."

It was my mothers turn to shrug. "Well... I kind of do. I guess." I raised an eyebrow. "Do you remember the guy that came by yesterday?"

"Koenma. Yes."

"Well... uh... hmm..." As my mother looked around the room I could tell that she struggled to find her words. "Come sit with me." She moved to the floor in front of our tea table then I moved to sit in front of her. "Let me start at the very beginning. Why I moved to Canada."

"Should we make some tea for this?" I meant it as a joke but my mother actually agreed and got up to prepare some tea I had to stop myself from hitting my forehead with the palm of my hand. As she was making the tea I started to get really restless. I toyed with my bracelets and kept rotating my ankles.

When she finally placed the cups and pot on the table I took a deep breath. I poured us both a cup as she got comfortable.

"So, where was I?"

"Your reason for moving to Canada?"

"Right, well." She took a small sip of her tea and I wanted to throw something because of that. Patience isn't always my strongest trait. "I told you before I had left Japan because I wanted a normal life, right? I wanted to get away from all the... attention I was getting." I nodded. "And you know that your grand-mother is a water demon and your grand-father is a fire demon." I nodded again slowly. Where was she going with this? While my mother always tried to avoid this topic it was pretty obvious that my grand-parents are elemental demons and that both my mother and I had inherited the control of water. "Well, there's more to it than that, Aly-Jay. And it's gotten to a point in your life where you need to know the complete story."

I frowned at my mother. "What are you talking about? It's pretty obvious isn't it? We're both water demons but I couldn't control my power. It got too much for me so you gave me these bracelets to bind them." I looked down at the bracelets as I remembered the event that lead to me wearing them.

When I looked back at my mother I could tell she was still struggling for words. "Yes, you're right... But there's more." Whoa, she's really struggling with this. I have her time to gather her words by taking a sip of my tea. "It was said, a long time ago, if a water demon and a fire demon created a child then that child would be very powerful. However, water demons and fire demons are natural enemies. It's almost impossible for them to even be in the same room for a long period of time. So when this prophecy was made no one really believed it. Plus, it's completely unheard of having a child with mixed demonology, the child would inherit the strongest element. But when your grand-parents met—your grand-father was hunting while your grand-mother went of wondering too far—it was basically love at first sight. And that's when people started to remember the prophecy." My mother took a second to rub her face. "When I was born, your grand-parents went into hiding. It became obvious that I was being hunted; either to kill me before I had a chance to ruin something, or to use my gifts for evil. That's how I met Koenma. He helped keep me safe and offered training. But something was wrong. As I grew up I realized that I master water really easily but I couldn't handle fire. A simple candle would burn me when it shouldn't have. I didn't have any of my fathers gifts, but no one would believe me. Strangers thought it was just lies to try and stop the hunts, while Koenma thought it was something that would just develop over time. What ever the reason was, I began to grow tired of all of it. I didn't like how I had to stay in hiding all the time. I couldn't stand the way Koenma would watch me as if my fire half would just pop out. So I left. One morning I just woke up and realized that I had to leave. So I did. I grabbed everything I could and headed to the airport. A flight to Canada was the first one I could get so I took it." My mother paused again...

I could only stare at her for a second. She had told me that she left Japan to try and have a normal life but she had never given me all the details... But there was more. I could feel it. "What has this got to do with me?"

My mother ran her fingers through her hair before she continued. "When I landed in Vancouver I had no intention of finding romance or any kind of relationship. I just needed to leave Japan and do something else. But when I met your father I couldn't help but be drawn to him. He was so handsome, and both he and I knew that he was charming. He used that talent on me and I fell, hard. I tried to resist him, I didn't think any harm would be done if I finally allowed myself to fall for his charm. Besides, I was suppose to be the gifted child and when that didn't happen I figured the prophecy was fake. I had no idea that the mixed demonology would carry onto you instead. From the moment you were born you had shown control over water so I wasn't completely worried. I figured you were like me, just inherited your grand-mother's gifts. But when you were five... I knew the prophecy had come true, but they were wrong, it didn't have anything to do with the first born; it was completely random... But there was nothing I could do to help you. You were so young, there was no way I could help you and keep you hidden at the same time. Hell, I couldn't keep you hidden at all. I didn't want you to go through what I had. The only choice I had for you was to bind your powers. But even with that... You can't be bound forever. You've already shown some side effects. You're height is an obvious one. Your body couldn't grow as it should have because it was too busy focusing on the energy inside of you. Plus, there's the reasons why I put you through dance, and why you have to eat so damn much."

I could tell she tried to make a joke at the end but all I could do was stare at her. There was no way I could be all that... I mean... she only bound my powers because my father couldn't know. If he found out he would either leave us or go around spreading the word.

"Aly-Jay? Is there anything you want to say?"

"I... I should go to bed." I was surprised by how that wasn't a complete lie. I found that I was actually pretty exhausted, like all that information added an extra 10 hours of me being awake... and having to listen to people speaking too fast... I slowly got up and headed towards my room.

"Goodnight."

"Night."


	3. Chapter 3

"Aly-Jay! Hey, are you alright?"

My head snapped up at the sound of my name. It took me a second see who called me. There was Keiko walking up to me.

I nodded. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Oh, it just looks like you're upset or something."

After sending her the best smile I could I said, "I'm fine, just a little homesick that's all." I had to stop myself from frowning. Either Keiko was very observant or is very in tune with people's emotions.

Keiko began to walk with me towards the school. "I can understand that. I bet it's been quite a culture shock and everything."

"Yeah." I didn't want to speak too much in case Keiko could read through my lies. Well, half lies. I was missing my life back at home. Before I figured out why I have to wear these stupid bracelets. The other half being I had gotten no sleep last night. I couldn't stop thinking about what my mother said. There was no way I could be all that she said. I mean... I know I had powers that needed to be bound but... Ugh, I can't handle this.

"Aly-Jay?" The surprise in Keiko's voice shook me out of my thoughts, but it was too late. Before I knew it, we had reached the stairs to the school and I tripped over the first step.

"Oh, fu-," I stopped myself before I fully cussed. Keiko seems like the type of girl that wouldn't take swear words lightly... or comfortably. Instead, I grunted and tried to catch my fall and let all my books and papers go everywhere. Son of a _bitch_, I am not liking how this day is going...

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Keiko put her bag aside and helped me gather all my stuff.

"Yeah. It's kind of weird how klutzy ballerina's are when we're not dancing." I grabbed the books she gave me with a smile.

Keiko seemed surprise. "You dance?"

"Back home, yeah. I haven't thought about looking for any classes here. Especially since I don't know long I'll be here for." When we finally made it into the school the beginning bell went off. Keiko and I said our goodbyes until our class together.

The whole day had gone rather smoothly, or at least what I had expected for the day. School was stressful and overwhelming, but that was to be expected for senior year. The language thing was still a fucking pain in the ass but at least I understood everything. The main thing that was kind of irritating was the pressure to prepare for the entry exams. It seemed that no matter how many times I said I'm not staying in Japan it just went through one of the professor's ears and out the other. Sometimes it even seemed that they pretended not to understand me because of my accent. Fuckers...

"Aly-Jay?"

Damn... caught in my daydreaming state again. "Yeah?"

Keiko looked at me like she was rather uncomfortable. "Um..."

Ugh, seems like I should have tattooed 'I am fucking pissed off' on my forehead. I forced myself to relax the muscles in my face. "Sorry, I'm just thinking about finals and entry exams. It's stressing me out."

Keiko seemed to relax a bit. "Oh, I don't think it's anything you need to worry about. But if you like, maybe we can get together and study? I have time today if you want."

"Sure," I replied with a smile. "I live pretty close to the school, maybe we can just head to my place? Although, I have to warn you, we still have a little unpacking to do so it might be a bit messy."

"That's fine. So should I meet you outside the gate after school?"

I nodded. Before we could go more into the conversation class started. I probably would have tried to carry it on but a lot of the students and teachers took school seriously. Too seriously sometimes.

As the teacher went on about the world wars, I had force myself to pay attention. History is not my strongest subject... While I do like to know what happened in the past and I do find the wars rather interesting, however, just listening to a lecture was not something I find entertaining. When class finally ending I couldn't help but eagerly gather my books and go to my next class. Which is... what? I had to double check since I wasn't familiar with the class rotation.

By the time school was over I was beyond ready to go home. I needed to get my mind off of all this school stuff. "Hey, Aly-Jay! You ready?" Ah damn... I forgot. I nodded at Keiko with a smile. At least this will be more laid back. I hope... After making a gesture towards the direction to my place, we started to walk side by side.

"Is there anything that you wanted to go over specifically?" Keiko asked after we walked in silence for a while.

I shrugged. "If anything it's the entry exam that's worrying me. We don't have that kind of stuff in Canada, or at least not as extreme as here. All I had to do back home is fill out an application and I got accepted."

Keiko looked down at me for a second. "You've been accepted into university?"

With a nod, I added, "Yeah, it's super easy. Especially for the smaller universities. If you get good grades you get accepted." We walked a little bit more before I started to get a pain in my stomach. I didn't have a big enough lunch so I figured I was hungry. "Hey, Keiko. Do you mind if make a quick stop at corner store or something? I'm suddenly really hungry." To put more emphasis into my hunger I rubbed my stomach.

"Sure," Keiko said. "I actually know a really good place just down the block that way." She pointed a block down. It didn't take long before she opened the door to a small diner and held the door open for me. The moment I walked in the aroma of teriyaki sauce filled my nostrils. That instantly got my mouth watering.

"Hello, Keiko," the chef said. "Who's this friend of yours."

"Hey, Dad." _Whoa, Dad?!_ "This is Aly-Jay, the girl I've told you about."

I smiled at Keiko's dad. "It's nice to meet you."

He smiled back at me. "It's nice to meet you too. Have you been to Japan before? You speak the language very well."

"Yeah," I said with a little laugh. "But it was never for very long. My grand-parents live here so my mom would bring me here to visit but I grew up in Canada. And my mom taught me how to speak the language, although it's my second."

"Well, if Japan hasn't already, I welcome you to this beautiful country. And as a welcome gift, what would you like to eat? It's on the house."

"Oh no, it's okay-" before I could finish Keiko's dad just waved me off and prepared to make a meal. I gave a play sigh before I finally said that I wanted some chicken teriyaki. After Keiko's dad went about preparing our meal, Keiko and I found some seats at the back of the diner. "This is such a nice little place. I noticed that there were a couple more floors, is there more tables up there?"

Keiko placed some of her books on a table. "No," she said with a little smile. "I actually live here. My room and everything is upstairs."

"No way!" I said in shock. "That is so cool. I've always wondered what it would be like to live in a place like this." As I put my books on the table another thought came to mind. "Wait, why don't we just study here? I can't believe you were going to walk all the way to my place when yours is even closer."

"I don't know," Keiko said with a shrug and soft smile. "You offered up your place, it seemed rude to say no"

I laughed softly at that. "I'm not going to lie, you are just so adorable."

Before Keiko could reply her dad came to give us our food. "Here you go, ladies. Enjoy." We thanked him and began to eat.

"Do you mind if we study and eat at the same time," I asked. When Keiko said she didn't mind we started to study; beginning with our entry exams.

After we were done eating and studying for our entry exams we began to do our homework together. I was a little surprised by how well I got along with Keiko. A lot of my friends back home were a lot more loud and... swear-y? And while Keiko seemed to be more gentle and polite I couldn't help myself from thinking that she doesn't mind being around loud, rude people. That Yusuke boy kind of confirmed that feeling. He doesn't seem like a 'Keiko-type-of-guy'.

Once five came around I began to get a pain in my stomach. I rubbed it with a frown, it was actually quite painful for something that came so suddenly.

"Is everything okay, Aly-Jay?" Keiko asked.

I shrugged with a frown. "I've just got a sudden pain in my stomach. It's probably nothing." I looked over at the clock hanging in the diner. "I should probably go now anyways. We got everything done."

Keiko walked me to the door before I headed back home. At first I thought the pain was from eating too fast and sitting for such a long period of time. But it seemed that the more I walked the more painful I became. My house wasn't that far from Keiko's house but it seemed that my stomach was slowing me down. With every step I took the more painful it became. When I finally made it to my apartment building I had to give myself a minute at the bottom of the stairs. I held my stomach with one arm and used the hand railing with the other and forced myself to walk up the stairs. Ugh, we just had to live on the fourth floor didn't we? The first thing I did when I got inside was to head to the bathroom. Since it wasn't because I hadn't moved around a lot then I assumed it was a stomach ache. Nope, not that either. I dragged myself to my room and flopped onto my bed. After rolling onto my back Mizu came into my room and paused at the door. He meowed softly as if he was worried before jumped onto my chest and curled into a ball. Even though he looked relaxed he kept staring at me as if worried I was going to break. I had to take a deep breaths to keep myself from grunting in pain.

"Aly-Jay?" I opened my eyes when I heard my mothers voice. Had I fallen asleep? "Aly-Jay!" My mom came running into my room. I figured she was worried because she didn't think I was home but when she saw me in bed she appeared to get even more worried. She ran to my side of the bed and ignored Mizu when he hissed at her. "I couldn't sense you... Are you alright?"

I closed my eyes for a second to stop myself from moaning. "I... hurt." I grabbed my stomach for a second then realized that I hurt all over. What was happening to me?

Before I could ask my mother, she ran out of the room and went to the kitchen. She wasn't being very quiet with what she was making but she was probably too rushed to care. God, I hope she was making me some tea. What I would do to have something gentle going down my throat...

When my mother returned she had a cup in hand. Yes, tea. She knelt on the floor beside me, and again ignored Mizu when he hissed at her. However, this time, Mizu eyed the cup in her hand. He took a small step closer to her and tried to sniff it. He seemed okay with it because he moved from my chest and towards my feet, but he never took his eyes off either my mother and I.

My mother placed the cup on my bed side table. "You have to tell me, when did you start to get this pain?"

I tried to ignore the pain before I answered. "Around... five. I was studying," deep breath, "with a friend. It was so sudden. At first I thought... it was just a... stomach ache... but when I started to walk home," a groan, "it only got worse."

She just nodded as if I got an answer right. "Yes... It's my fault, I should have known better. You need to drink this." She grabbed the cup and helped me take a sip.

The drink was very strong and had lots of herbs but my mother had tried to hide the taste by putting honey in it. "What's... happening to me?" When I finished my drink the pain slowly began to fade and I began to get tired. Ugh, drugged.

"It's your energy. I'm so sorry, it's my fault. I should have known better... This is why I had put you in dance. With all your energy being locked down you needed to do something active to help drain some of that energy. You have so much power inside you that if you didn't do something with it you'd fall sick... really sick. There was so no way I could help you with your powers, I don't have the knowledge... and you were so young. I would have put you in some kind of ballet academy when we got here but I didn't think this would happen to quickly... I think your power has gotten stronger with age and it wants out... Maybe I should get Koenma. He'll be able to get help for you."

I could tell that she didn't like the idea of me going to Koenma. When I thought about it for a second, I had to agree. "No," I said as I tried to grab her shoulder. I was so tired and kind of drugged that I had completely missed and just hit the bed. I had less than a month left of school and whatever my mother gave me seemed to help. I might be able to last for a month. Plus, to be completely honest, I don't think I'm ready to face my demon side. It seems so... strong. I don't think I can handle it.

My mother must have known what I was talking about because she simply nodded again. She placed a gentle hand on my forehead. "Sleep, Aly-Jay. You need to rest."

The next morning when I had woken up I didn't feel any pain but I was extremely hungry. I went straight to the kitchen without changing first. To my surprised my mother was already in there cooking breakfast. Even more shocking was just how much food was made. There was pancakes, french toast, eggs, turkey bacon—because I couldn't stomach anything made from a pig for some odd reason—and even fruit of all kinds. Since the food was placed on the counter rather than the table I climbed onto a stool and eyed all the food.

When I took my seat my mother placed an empty plate in front of me. "Since your demon energy wont be focusing your human energy anymore it will turn towards your actual body. You'll need to eat a lot more so it has something to burn, otherwise it might just eat you from the inside out."

Ewe, gross image, but I started to pile my plate anyways. I guess that explained why I was so hungry. After I had eaten all the fruit, two flapjacks, and three pieces of french toast I finally didn't feel hungry anymore. When I downed the last of my juice and placed it next to my empty coffee cup I got up and went to get ready for school. With a sigh of relief my mother put down her mixing bowl and spoon. She was glad she didn't have to make anymore.

Before I ran out to go to school my mother stopped me. "Take your phone with you to school. It's your same blackberry, I just had it unlocked and gave it a new sim card. Call me if anything happens."

"Thanks." I grabbed the phone my mom held out. After I double checked to make sure it was on silent I ran out the door. In fact, I ran all the way to school, and it wasn't just because I was running late. I felt like the food and night sleep really helped me. I was refreshed and ready to face the day. The morning bell began to ring when I finally reached the school. Perfect timing. I continued to run to class and took my seat. I ignored the looks I got from people—I guess I looked a little too eager to go to class—and realized I wasn't even out of breath.

School went by rather quickly. With this new found energy I was able to really focus in class and pay attention to everything being said. When ever a question was being asked my hand was the first to go up into the air. I couldn't even stay still, if my hand wasn't going up, my knee would start to shake, or I would start to play with my pen. Keiko was even getting a kick out of this, I was being a little more open around her and she would actually laugh at some of the lame ass jokes I would say. When school ended, Keiko and I walked out together. Once we reached the gates I saw Yusuke waiting against the wall like the first time I met him.

"Hey, Keiko, and Aly-Jay, right?" He pushed himself off the wall and offered to shake my hand.

When we made eye contact I got the same chill going down my spine like last time, only this time it was a bit stronger. There was something different about this guy...

"That's right," I said as I shook his hand. "And, if I remember from a couple days ago, you're Yusuke."

"Good memory." Yusuke looked me up and down then raised an eyebrow. If I didn't know better it looked like he thought that I was different too.

And on that note. "Well, I better get going. I have a lot of homework to do." I said good bye to both of them and—because I still had the energy for it—I ran home.

When I got home I went to my laptop and signed onto skype. I had barely logged on before Jessie started to call me. "Finally you dirty whore!" Yup, that was Jessie. "Do you honestly think that short facebook messages saying that you arrived safely was enough? I am so disappointed in you."

I laughed at her. Our conversation lasted for a little over an hour, most of it being us dancing "together" aka doing the chicken dance and others just as retarded. We would have stayed online for longer if it hadn't become midnight during the week on her side. After I started to play music on my laptop I went about doing my homework. Two hours later, done. Now what? Mother had gotten home half way through my homework session so I decided to help her with the very last of the unpacking. It took us an hour. At this point I started to feel tired but couldn't bring myself to stay still. And that's when I realized that something was wrong...

Even though I had dressed for bed I couldn't stay in bed, after a couple minutes I would have to get up and walk around the room. When two in the morning came around I heard a knock on my door. I opened it to see my mom standing there with a cup in her hand. She looked worried as shit.

"Try this. It might help."

I took it without question and downed it. When I handed the drink to my mother I went to go lie down. The moment my head hit the pillow I started to feel really tired. I thanked my mother and eventually fell asleep. When I finally woke up, I sat up and looked out the window. Odd, it was still dark out. Curious, I looked over at my alarm clock. What the fuck? I had only slept for two hours. I felt the same as I did before my mother gave me the drink. It was like my mind wanted me to sleep but my body wouldn't let me. After trying everything, I eventually just grabbed one of my books and started to read. As I reached for my second book my alarm went off. Fucking finally.

When I crawled into the shower I couldn't help but think about how much I wanted to sleep. Every time I closed my eyes and let my head fall my body would just force it back up. Fuck I felt like shit. As I wrapped the towel around my wet body I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Oh great, not only did I feel tired I looked tired. After changing and doing my hair I grabbed my make up bag and went about trying to hide the bags under my eyes.

This time at breakfast I had barely let my mother place my plate down before I started to pile it with food. Fuck yes! Again I started with the fruit before I went for the fatty stuff. I was so busy forcing food down my throat that I didn't notice how quiet my mother was, or the way she was looking at me. She was totally worried about me and she watched me until I ran to the door and went to class.

This went on for a whole month and it was always the same. I never felt like there was something _wrong_ with me, in fact, I felt totally normal. The only issue was that all I could think about was sleeping but I could never let myself actually do it for more than a couple hours. However, a couple weeks after all this started it seemed like even the food wasn't helping. I was beginning to lose weight and that wasn't good. I was already pretty skinny because of the demands from ballet so this added weight lose was definitely noticeable. At one point Keiko even commented on my weight and I had to blame it on the stress for the entrance exams.

One morning, while I was in bed reading I heard my mother moving around in her room. I looked at the clock to see that it was four in the morning. I frowned in confusion and my eyebrows got even deeper when I heard her leave her room and head to the kitchen. What could she be doing so early? As quietly as I could I crawled out of bed—trying to avoid waking Mizu at my feet—and slowly walked into the hallway. I tried to find a view point where I could stay out of sight but was still able to watch my mother. I was shocked to see her starting to make breakfast. Judging by the bags under her eyes, she has been doing this almost every morning. How had I never noticed this before? Maybe I should have let her take the bracelets off. She shouldn't have to do this for me...

"Try to rest some more, Aly-Jay. Don't worry about me."

Damn, she's better than I thought. Because I knew fighting her would be futile I didn't comment and went back to bed.

I started to get more worried when we had a visitor a few days after I caught mother cooking breakfast. It was pretty late in the evening when my mother answered a knock on the door.

"Koenma," I heard my mother say in shock. "What are you doing here?"

"I hope it's not too late for me to visit. I just really wanted to talk to you about something important."

I heard my mother invite Koenma in and offer him tea.

"What is so important, Koenma? I really don't think right now is a good time."

"If anything, Kasumi, right now is the best time. We need to talk about Aly-Jay."

"No, Koenma. I don't want to talk about this."

"You'll have to face this eventually. What Aly-Jay is going through isn't healthy. She won't be able to go through this for much longer. If Aly-Jay continues this way she'll eventually die. Look, Kasumi, I know you want her to have a normal life. I understand that. Especially after what I put you through. I shouldn't have been so forceful on you and I needed to realize that you weren't the one everyone was talking about. I should have let you go. But you can't let her keep going like this."

There was a long pause before my mother said, "She can hold it."

"Kasumi..."

"No, let me finish. She can hold it. At least until she graduates. She just has a couple more days left of school. She can hold it until then. Please, just let her finish school then we can talk about her training."

"Fine... but the moment she graduates I'm coming back."

Koenma didn't stay long after that. I assumed he stayed to finish his tea but then he left.

And he didn't lie about coming back after I graduated. I couldn't stay long after my last exam. The lack of sleep was seriously taking a toll on me. I looked like crap and I could barely move my body because I was so tired, but even with that, I couldn't sleep. I was lying in bed with my eyes wide open and Mizu on my chest when Koenma walked into my room.

"Hello, Aly-Jay. Do you remember me?" I nodded. "I'm assuming you know why you're reacting like this?" I nodded again. "You need help, Aly-Jay. If you carry on like this-"

I stopped him by raising my hand. "Bring... it on. I'll accept... help"

Koenma nodded. "Right. I brought someone who can help you. Or at least he can take you to someone that can help. I would take you myself but I can't stay in the human world for very long." Koenma turned to the door. "You can come in now."

I heard foot steps before, "Aly-Jay?!"

I turned my head towards the door and was shocked to see Yusuke.


	4. Chapter 4

"You're a demon?" Yusuke yelled.

I would have expressed my own level of surprised if I wasn't so exhausted.

Koenma took a step back in shock as he looked between Yusuke and I. "You guys know each other?"

I shook my head at the same time Yusuke said, "Nah. Not really anyways. She goes to Keiko's school and we've seen each other once in a while at the end of the day." I nodded to confirm what Yusuke said.

"Well then... Aly-Jay, do you know anything about Yusuke? About his demon side?"

Whoa! He's a demon? That would probably explain my chills whenever I saw him. While I wanted to say those thoughts out loud all I could do was shake my head.

My feeble attempted of an answer must have came to Koenmas notice. "Oh right, I forgot." Koenma ran out of the room and into the kitchen.

Yusuke and I stared at each other for a second. "So..." I said, looking away from him. "Awkward..."

Yusuke laughed as he took a seat at my desk. "You're a demon, huh? I never would have guessed. I'm not sensing anything from you; spirit, or demon."

I lifted my wrists to show my bracelets. "My power... is bound."

"Huh. I've never seen anything like that before." Yusuke leaned forward to get a better look. "They just look like ordinary bracelets."

Before I could attempt a reply Koenma came back into the room with a cup in his hand. "Drink this, Aly-Jay." He helped me drink it. "It should help you become more balanced. It's like the one your mother gave you but it should be a bit stronger." I did feel like I was becoming more balanced. I was able to close my eyes and keep them closed. "Hmm.. Maybe Yusuke should return tomorrow morning. It looks like you should use some sleep."

I was able to stay awake just long enough to hear the guys leave and feel Mizu crawl up from my feet to sleep close to my face.

The first thing I did when I woke up was check the time. Finally, I slept until nine in the morning. God that was thirteen hours. I sat up and stretched before I got up to have some breakfast. Hmm, I was still kind of sleepy but my hunger overrode my need to sleep, so I headed off to the kitchen. My mother had made the same amount of food as she usually did and I ate the same amount as I usually did.

When I was done eating, my mother came to sit next to me. "I got a message from Koenma this morning. Yusuke will be coming here with a friend of his to take you to Yusukes old master. You must be really respectful towards her, she's really powerful." She paused for a second. "She'll probably be able to help you, but it wont be something that will happen in one day. I think you should pack for a couple days, at least."

"Alright," I said with a nod. After helping my mother clean up I went to take a quick shower and went about packing. I grabbed all the essentials, everyday clothes, work out clothes, and even my pointe shoes. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to get the chance to use them, but I brought them anyways, simply because it was comforting. When I was done I put my bag by the door. "Mom!" I called, when I heard her reply I continued. "Do you think I could bring Mizu with me?"

"I'm sure it would be fine! As long as he doesn't go off attacking everyone!"

I laughed at that. "I guess it's a no then huh?" I bent down to pick him up. He rubbed his face against mine and gave me the sweetest look. "Then again, maybe you wont. If I bring you with me, you promise not to attack anyone?" He meowed. "That's good enough for me."

After putting him back down I quickly went about gathering stuff for the cat. Just as I was putting the last of it in my second bag there was a knock at the door. I went to answer it and saw Yusuke and the red headed guy, Kuwabara if I remember correctly.

"Hey, Aly-Jay. You ready?" Yusuke said with a grin.

"Whoa! This is that Aly-Jay girl you were talking about?" Kuwabara yelled as he looked down at me. "I totally forgot about her! Although I can't believe I could forget her height... Are you sure this is the right girl? She doesn't seem very powerful."

I glared at him. "Careful. And yes, Yusuke, I'm ready." I grabbed both bags then went to grab Mizu."

"Hey! You've got a kitty?" Kuwabara leaned down to get a good look at Mizu. My kitten's reply was a hiss and a deadly swat with his paw. "Hey!"

Yusuke and I laughed. "Sorry," I said, after I stopped laughing. "He doesn't take to strangers very well."

I turned around to say goodbye to my mother. I expected her to be in the other room but when I turned she was standing in the living room watching. "Have fun, Aly-Jay. Be careful and learn as much as you can."

"Bye, Mom." I gave her a quick hug. "Parting is such sweet sorrow," I said in English.

My mother laughed then tightened her hug. "I'm going to miss you."

"I'm going to miss you too." I let go of her then followed Yusuke and Kuwabara out the door. Even though I wanted to look back, I knew I couldn't. Goodbyes are totally not my thing, and I had the hugest feeling that I wouldn't be gone for just a few days... "So, boys... where are we going?"

"We're taking you to Genkai's place," Yusuke replied. "She might be able to help train you, and if she can't she'll probably know someone who can."

I nodded. "And this Genkai used to be your trainer, or something?"

"Yeah," he seemed irritated by the mention of her name. "And she's a total bitch too."

"Urameshi!" Kuwabara yelled, "that isn't very nice. I bet she could still kick your ass. Anyways," Kuwabara turned to me, "she this very powerful martial artiest. I'm sure she can help you with whatever problem you're having."

"Um, thanks?" I moved Mizu in my arms and made sure he was wrapped in the tiny blanket in a way where he can't run."

The rest of the trip was silent as we walked to the train station. Half an hour later we got off the train. It looked like we had gotten to the country side. Why wasn't I surprised? "Not to sound like a five year old or anything, but are we there yet?"

Both boys laughed at that before they said we were almost there. We walked for another twenty minutes before we reached a forest that had a long flight of stairs. I couldn't even see the top. I really hope this is it, I could feel that restlessness crawling back through my nerves. "Please tell me this is the right place." They nodded. "Good. Do we climb to the very top?" They nodded again. "Good." I waited for the guys to take the first step up the stairs. The moment they did I ran up the stairs as fast as I could. I hoped it would help with the restlessness and it kind of did. Fives seconds later I had reached the stop.

I heard Yusuke laughing a couple seconds later as he followed me. "Whoa, Aly-Jay. A warning would be nice next time. I thought you couldn't use any of your powers."

"I can do a few things, like heal quickly, run fast, and use my real strength." I heard running from behind me and saw Kuwabara struggling up the stairs.

"That wasn't very nice, you guys! Leaving me behind like that!"

"Oh, get over it you big baby," Yusuke said while playfully punching him in the arm. "Besides, we got to find Genkai to tell her we've arrived with Aly-Jay."

I followed them as they walked around the compound. The place was huge and covered by a thick forest. We walked straight ahead to what appeared to be the main hall or.. room of some kind. When the guys opened it I peaked inside to see it was empty. "Hmm," Yusuke said as he scratched the back of his head. "I wonder where she is."

"Yukina!" I jumped at the sound of Kuwabara yelling. I turned to see why he reacted that way and saw him running towards a young women with minty green hair. Holy shit we were almost the same height!

I looked over at Yusuke and saw that he seemed embarrassed by Kuwabara. I watched him slowly walk over to this Yukina person. "Hey, Yukina, do you know where Genkai is?"

She nodded. "Yeah, I think she's talking to Hiei."

"Hiei is here?" Yusuke asked in shock. "Is there some kind of reunion that I didn't know about?"

"Um, not that I'm aware of."

"I wonder why he's here then." Yukina opened her mouth to reply but Yusuke saw someone approaching from behind her. "There you are Grand-ma! I thought you had died on me or something."

I took a step to the side to try and get a better look at who he was talking to. Holy shit! I am beginning to like this place. Not only are there people my height, but there are also people that are even shorter than me.

The short elderly lady that was walking towards us must be Genkai. "What? And leave this place in your hands alone? I don't think so. You'd probably destroy it in a matter of seconds. Is that the girl Koenma was talking about?"

Finally, I was really starting to feel awkward just standing there while everyone went off to talk to this Yukina girl. I walked down the steps from the main room and walked towards Genkai. Remembering what my mother said about being respectful, I bowed slightly. "It's nice to finally meet you, Master Genkai."

"Hm, I like this girl."

Yusuke rolled his eyes before he said, "She has these bracelets on her wrists that are holding her powers. Do you know anything about them?"

I held my wrists out for Genkai to examine them. She turned my wrists in every direction to get a good look at them. After she gave them a good tug to see if they'd slip off she nodded. "Yes, just as I had suspected. They're demon made and much like the ones I gave you during the dark tournament. Only these ones are meant to bind and hide her powers while yours was to hide and make your power stronger. I don't know much about these ones but I can try my best. Come with me, Aly-Jay." Yusuke and I followed her into the forest until we got to a large clearing. Once we reached the centre Genkai turned to me. "If I'm right, then it wont be pretty when we take those bracelets off. Since you have had your powers bound for so long the moment we take those bracelets off then they will be unleashed at a very strong rate."

I couldn't help myself from touching my bracelets. When she says it like that then I think I'll just keep them on. Maybe I can find some hardcore ballet company to join.

"Or," Genkai continued, "your powers might just find the freedom from the bracelets a release and you'll just find your body and mind at peace. But there's only one way to find out." She held her hands out for me to place my hands in.

After I handed Yusuke Mizu and put my bags down, I placed my hands in hers. She turned my hands over and gently pressed a certain part of the inside of each bracelet. And just like that they fell off. I don't know how I feel about them coming off so easily. Knowing they could have come off if I touched them wrong was not a settling thought... As I rubbed my naked wrists I noticed that nothing was happening. "Hm.. Maybe my powers just-" I didn't have time to finish my sentence before I went through one of the most painful experiences of my life.

At first it felt like the pain was ice cold, like the moment when someone pushes you into a cold lake when you weren't ready. That split second where it's so cold that it feels like there a hundred needles poking you. I was so shocked by it that all I could do was open my mouth with shock. It started at my fingers and toes and worked its way into my chest. The more it spread the more painful it became. The moment it got to my shoulders and the top of my thighs I couldn't stop myself from throwing me head back and letting out a scream. I have never experienced this kind of pain before, and no matter how much I tried I couldn't get it to stop. I tried to relax and breath and I tried to find some kind of control over my powers. Nothing helped. And it didn't end there.

I thought I heard Genkai and Yusuke trying to get me to stop, and I heard them trying to run towards me. They couldn't get very close because the moment they tired the pain had reached my chest and got a whole lot worse. While before the pain was ice cold, when it finally reached my chest it suddenly changed to a skin melting hot. I screamed again as both my powers fought for control but the struggle lead to bad mixing and resulted it them lifting me off the ground. All I could do was let my body fight it out as I dangled in the air screaming. Water had control for most of my life, but fire was not happy about that and tried to push water down. I could feel it happening within me. One side of my body felt ice cold while the other was scorching hot and the level of intensity from each element would get stronger. It was like they were trying to find a balance. While fire wanted more control because it was always in the shadows, water just wanted the balance my body needed.

I felt like this was going on for months, years, centuries. I'm pretty sure I got to a thousand years before fire and water started to find a balance. They still struggled but it gave Genkai the time she needed to bind me again. At least, that's what I think since I heard Genkai yelling something before I passed out.

Hiei watched Yukina walk away from him as he held the stone he tried to return. She is so naive, she should have just taken the stone because he had no intention to tell her that he's the brother she's been looking for. Such a child for still believing that he's alive after all he's told her.

"She's not as naive as you think she is, Hiei."

He quickly hid Yukina's stone under his shirt before he looked behind him to see Genkai walking up to him.

"She's not a child anymore, Hiei. She knows more than what you'd expect. After staying at my compound for so long she has learned many things. You need to stop trying to baby her."

"Humph," was Hiei only reply.

"Don't want to listen to me? Fine. But you're going to have to accept it sooner or later. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a mixed demon I need to go see."

Mixed demon? Is there such a thing? Rather than voicing his questions Hiei watched Genkai walk away.

"What a surprise to see you here, Hiei. I never would have thought you'd return so soon."

Ugh, what is this? _I return to human world to tell Yukina that her _brother_ is dead and it's like everyone needs to plan some kind of welcoming party..._Hiei turned around to face Kurama. "Well, it's not a surprise to see you here, Kurama. That soft heart of yours prevents you from leaving this so-called 'gang'."

Kurama smiled. "What can I say? These guys grew on me. But I must ask, what are you doing here?"

"I came to give Yukina her stone back."

"Oh?"

Hiei could read Kurama's reaction like an open book. Kurama has such wishful thinking when it comes to Hiei telling Yukina the truth. "And tell her that her brother is dead."

"I see. I guess you will never give up on that." There was a long pause before Kurama continued with a conversation. "So, are you going to return to demon world now that you've talked to Yukina?" Hiei nodded. "Are you not a little bit curious about this mixed demon?"

"Please," Hiei said as he crossed his arms and closed his eyes. "There's no such thing."

Kurama looked down at Hiei. "Have you not heard of the prophecy?"

Before Hiei could reply there was a random burst of wind that carried an odd sense of demon energy. Both Kurama and Hiei frowned in confusion. The moment they heard a girl scream and felt a large burst of energy, they both took a step back from the impact.

"What the-?" Hiei said before both he and Kurama ran towards the energy. Before they could reach the source the energy simply vanished. Hiei followed Kurama's lead when he stopped running. "What was that?"

"I wonder..." Kurama said, while he got lost in his thoughts. "Could that really have been the mixed demon?"

Hiei then saw Yusuke coming out of the forest with a young girl in his arms and Genkai at his side. Did that power really come from her? He didn't sense anything before when he should have.

"What happened, Master Genkai?" Kurama asked. "Is she the mixed demon?"

Genkai nodded. "Yes, and she's not what I expected. She has more power than I thought would be possible. While I thought she would just have half the power of water and half the power of fire, it appears that she has full power of both."

Hiei frowned as he thought something like that was even possible. No one could survive with power like that.

"Is that even possible?" Kurama asked. Hiei was grateful that Kurama was here to asked the questions Hiei refused to ask.

"Barely, it obviously had a toxic reaction to this young girl. Her mother put these demon bracelets on her at a young age and I can't decided if that was a good idea or not. It might have helped her survive over the years but her powers were bound for so long." All of them looked down at the bracelets that have returned to her wrists. "I was able to put those back on, and after that release of power hopefully it wont be as bad when we take them off again. But I want both of you to come with us. We need to talk about what we should do with her."

Hiei humphed. "You'll have to excuse me but I have to return to demon world."

"No, Hiei," Genkai said as she started to walk towards her compound. "If anything, we'll need your help the most."

No one gave Hiei the chance to argue as they all started to walk away. Once they got to the front of the compound they placed the mixed demon in the training building and had Yukina try to nurse her back to health. As Yukina placed a damp cloth on the mixed demon's forehead the guys and Genkai stood back to watch her.

"What's her name?" Kurama asked.

"Aly-Jay Brooks," Genkai replied. Everyone looked at Genkai with a confused expression. "She was born and raised in Canada. Her human father named her."

"She's half human?" Hiei couldn't stop himself from asking.

Genkai nodded, "I guess what the prophecy left out was that the mixed demon needed some human blood in order to inheriate both elements."

Kurama frowned. "How does that make sense?"

"Since when has a prophecy ever made sense?"

"Good point."

There was a pause before Hiei asked the question that has been on his mind. "How am I involved in all this? I don't have time to just stand here and stare a sleeping half human."

Genkai closed her eyes as if to fight back a nasty remark. When she opened her eyes she looked up at Hiei and said, "As I've said before, Hiei, she isn't just half water demon, half fire demon. She's a full water demon and a full fire demon in one body. "

"Yes, you've said that already..."

Genkai ignored the impatience tone in Hiei's voice. "From what I saw in the clearing she doesn't have any idea how to control the element of fire. It's as if her fire side had been bound to the point of none existence and when her bracelets came off it demanded to have complete power. She doesn't have the control or ability to put fire in it's place on her own. And with you being a fire demon..."

"No," Hiei said firmly. "I didn't come here to start baby sitting again." He started to leave the room.

"Oh, when are you going to grow up?" Genkai yelled.

"Excuse me?" Hiei turned to Genkai with a snarl.

"You don't want to accept the fact that you actually like being around Yusuke, Kurama and Kuwabara? Fine, I don't care about you're stupid stubbornness, but we all know that you do have some form of a heart. Are you really just going to let this girl spend the rest of her life suffering through her power struggle? We all know that if we leave her like this she'll eventually die sooner than when she's meant to."

Hiei turned his back to Genkai. "Find another fire demon."

Genkai crossed her arms. "We should all know that the only fire demons I've met ended with me killing them." When Hiei didn't say anything Genkai added, "Besides, you've got to be at least a little curious. She's the only mixed demon that's ever lived. Once she gains full control over her powers, would she be more powerful than yourself? Hell, would she be the most powerful demon in all of demon world?"

After Hiei thought about it for a second he turned his head to look at Genkai, then he simply walked away.

Once he was out of sight Kurama said, "I think that's a yes."


	5. Chapter 5

When I woke up the next morning I was surprised by how little I hurt. I blinked my eyes a couple times to adjust to the light but I wish I hadn't. My body didn't hurt but I couldn't say the same about the serious headache I had. I groaned and tried to rub one of my temples. When I did, I felt a damp cloth on my forehead.

"Oh, you're awake."

I turned my head to the side and saw Yukina kneeling next to me. After I did a quick look around I noticed I was laying on the ground in some kind of bare room, there wasn't any kind of furniture at all. Maybe it was some kind of room for healing? No idea. I'm not used to these traditional Japanese compounds.

"How long have I been out?" I slowly sat up. Yukina tried to get me to lie back down but I simply waved her off. "No, I'm fine. Really, I actually don't hurt at all. Well, besides this horrible headache." I went to rub my temple again but stop short when I saw my bracelets back on my wrists. Huh, maybe my mixed powers aren't going to be as easy to deal with than I thought. "So, how long?"

Yukina slowly got up to her feet. "Not very long. Less than 24 hours. Now if you'll excuse me, Master Genkai told me to go find her when you woke up."

While Yukina was gone I crossed my legs and stretch my shoulders and neck. I guess my body didn't come out of that ordeal unscratched—kind of—my body was stiff as hell. I twisted my spine around to try and crack my back. When I successfully cracked my whole spine I let out a relaxing sigh.

"Ewe! That's so gross."

I jerked my head towards the door in surprised. There was Kuwabara who looked completely disgusted. However, he wasn't alone. Genkai, Yusuke, and Yukina were with him. Plus, there were two other people. One of them was close to my height—yes!—that had spiked black hair with a white streak, he also had the same red eyes as Yukina. The other had a gentle face with long red hair.

I quickly got to my feet but stumbled a little bit; I probably should have stretched those a bit too. The short guy rolled his eyes and looked away. Jeez, sorry for being out cold for a long time and not being perfect in body and mind. Fucker... I sent him a glare even though he didn't see it.

Genkai looked me up and down. "You appear better than I thought you would."

"Yeah, I guess I got lucky on that one." I frowned down at my bracelets. "Well, I'm assuming what happened in the clearing wasn't successful?"

"I wouldn't say that. From what happened I was able to see what kind of struggle your body is going through."

Genkai went to continue but I couldn't help jump to answer it myself. "You mean how my fire side wanted complete control while my water side tried to balance the power?" They all seemed surprised that I knew that. I looked down and rubbed the odd pressure in my chest. "I... I felt it happening. It was kind of like two people having some kind of battle." The short guy looked back at me with a raised eyebrow. It wasn't until then when I realized how irritated I was that I didn't know the other two guys names. I took a step towards them. "I'm sorry, my name is Aly-Jay. And you are?"

The red headed guy kind of blushed then stepped forward. "Forgive me. I'm Kurama while the guy behind me is Hiei." I shook his hand when he offered it.

"It's nice to meet you two." When I stepped back I couldn't help but rub my chest again. I didn't feel right for some reason. Which was weird because I didn't feel the usual restlessness or the hunger. Maybe that was why I felt weird.

Genkai must have sensed my uneasiness because she didn't ask anymore questions. In fact, she told Yusuke and the guys to show me to the room that I'll be staying in. I barely made it out of the door before I realized something. "Mizu! How could I have forgotten about him?"

All of them stopped to stare at me like I had gone crazy. Kuwabara was the one that had realized what I was talking about. "Oh, do you mean your kitty? I set up your cat stuff in your room and I saw Mizu was watching me so I'm pretty sure he knows that you guys have moved in."

I smiled at him sweetly. "Thank you, Kuwabara."

"Oh, ha-ha. It was no problem." He scratched the back of his head as we continued to walk.

We barely took two more steps before Hiei just vanished. When I saw him disappear through the corner of my eye I tried to look and see where he went.

"You're going to have to mind Hiei sometimes, Aly-Jay," Kurama said, when he noticed my confusion. "He tends to be a little anti-social." I nodded at that. It was something I could relate to, I can be the same way.

We continued to walk away from the main part of the compound. Kurama explained that Genkai had a separate building for all of us to live in. And since she tends to get a lot of unexpected visitors she wanted it away from the main area. I thought it made sense.

As we finally entered the house Kurama went on to explain, "Yusuke and Kuwabara live here permanently." I could tell when I saw both Kuwabara and Yusuke flop on the couch as if they've been here for years. "I, on the other hand, leave every so often to visit my family. But I do spend most of my time here as well."

The house was really simple which, I thought, added this certain charm to it. Right in front of us was this living room area. There were couches a coffee table and a TV. At the far wall there was an archway leading to another room. I pointed to it and asked, "Kitchen?" Kurama nodded.

Since I still had my headache, I thought I could ask if they had any pain killers. "Would you happen to have anything for a headache?" Kurama nodded again and lead me to the kitchen.

The kitchen was bigger than I expected. There was everything we would need. Plus, there was an island and stools in the middle, with a dining table to the right. For some reason, I had a feeling that the dining table didn't get a lot of use. A house full of boys? They probably just eat at the island since it's more convenient.

Kurama went over to a small cabinet above the fridge and pulled out a small bottle of pills. As I helped myself to two, he went to get a glass to fill with water. I made a mental note on where to find the glasses for next time. After I thanked him and took the pills, he continued our little tour.

"What about Hiei? Does he have a room?" I asked, as I followed Kurama up a flight of stairs that was just right of the front door. "He doesn't seem to be the type that would like to stay here."

Kurama chuckled at that. "Yes, I can see why you would think that, but he does have a room here as well. He actually just arrived today but I'm sure he'll be staying for a while. This is your room here. While it's at the end of the hall, it's right across the second bathroom. The one next to yours is Hiei's, then mine, then Kuwabara's, then Yusuke's."

"Thank you," I said. When I reached to open my door I noticed there was another door beside the bathroom. "What room is that?"

"Oh, right," Kurama seemed embarrassed to answer. "That's another bathroom. While we we're a house of boys, Kuwabara and Yusuke always seem to fight over the bathroom so Genkai was forced to put in another one."

I laughed at that. "Good thing I'm not a bathroom whore." Kurama's eyes opened wide at my language. "I mean..."

Kurama chuckled again. "It's okay. I've gotten used to language like that after hanging around Yusuke and Kuwabara. You just seemed so formal towards Genkai, but now I see you were just being smartly respectful. You don't have to worry about what you say around us, if anything it might make you closer to the others a lot faster."

After thanking Kurama again I opened the door to my new room. While this one is smaller than my old one back in town, this room had a more homey sense. There was just enough room for a single bed against the wall to the right, drawers for my clothes in front of me, and a desk and chair to the left. It was definitely smaller than what I'm used to but I had a feeling I wasn't going to be spending a lot of time in here anyways.

I went over to my new bed that had my bags on them. As I started to open them I heard a scratching at my window and a tiny meow. When I opened it I saw Mizu standing on a tree branch that just reached my window. Mizu jumped into my room as I stuck my head out the window to see a small tree that had enough branches to allow Mizu to climb up and down whenever he pleased. He's a sneaky little bugger. I closed the window with enough room for Mizu to get through and made a mental note to keep it that way.

As Mizu patrolled the area I went about unpacking my bags. While I thought it would help take my mind off things, every time I reached for something I saw my bracelets and got that uneasy pressure in my chest. I couldn't get my mind off my unbalanced powers. Was there really any hope for me? Or was I stuck trying to deal with this inner battle? As my mind began to race I pulled out my pointe shoes. I stopped to stare at them for a second. Hmm, I guess it was a good thing I brought them. I didn't bother with the last of packing as I grabbed my iPod and a cord to attach it to a stereo. Dance would be the perfect thing to get some of this stress off my mind. It has always helped me in the past.

I quickly changed into my tights and black leotard then put a pair of sweats and a wife beater on top. After that I put on my ballet flats and took my ballet shoes and iPod stuff to the bathroom so I could wash my face and put my hair in a bun. When all was said and done I left the house to find Genkai. I was grateful for not running into any of the guys, I wasn't in the mood to give my "Yes, I dance" speech. The first place I looked was the main room at the entrance of the compound. It was the first room I entered so I thought it would be a good place to start. Good guess on my part, because I found her there drinking tea.

"Master Genkai?" I hoped I wasn't disturbing her.

"Yes, Aly-Jay?" Genkai didn't even turn around to confirm it was me.

"Would you happen to have a room or area with a bit of empty space? And maybe a stereo?"

_Please say yes. Please say yes. _

This time Genkai turned her head to look at me. She eyed the pointe shoes I had flung over my shoulder, then pointed in the direction of the building across the one I had woken up in. "That one should do."

I thanked her before I went into the room she pointed to. The moment I opened the door I had to just stop and stare. Um, yup, I think this would do... It was obvious that this room was meant for training. All along the side walls were training weapons and other such tools and objects. In one corner there was a TV with a game console and a stereo beside it. The room even had floor to ceiling mirrors along the back wall. Oh, and not to mention the place was fucking huge. This was more than I expected.

I plugged my iPod into the stereo then went to go stretch. I had only intended to stretch so I didn't pull a muscle or anything but the moment I started I noticed that I was a lot more stiff than I had realized. With that thought in mind I put my iPod of shuffle and stretched until all my muscles loosened up. When that was done I went about to quickly stretch the arches of my feet and covered the necessary toes with the hockey tape I always store in one of the shoes. I put on my pointe shoes and did a couple more stretches to break in my stiff shoes.

Once satisfied I took off my sweats and wife beater then went to my iPod to change the song to my Esmeralda variation. Even thought this dance required a tambourine, I didn't really carry them around with me on a daily basis... so I just pretended to hold one in my right hand. I quickly went to the centre of the room close to the wall. The track had a few seconds of silence before the actual music started so I took that time to close my eyes. The moment I did that I took a deep breath to find some sense of relaxation. It felt like the oxygen that went through my body gently massaged my muscles and allowed me to not stress over the movements. It made me feel... at peace.

The moment the music started I opened my eyes and let my body do the thinking for me. Ballet wasn't something that I really had to work hard on, or at least not as hard as my other classmates. The other girls in my class had to focus on getting their leg high enough during kicks, or getting enough power to make their pirouettes a triple. I, on the other hand, had to make sure I didn't kick too high—depending on how high they need to be anyways—or that I didn't put too much power into my turns. It was hard at times but since I've been on pointe for years now it wasn't something I struggled with like when I was younger.

When I was in the finishing pose I realized I had a smile on my face when I hadn't tried. Yup, this was something that I needed. As I got up and went to my iPod I knew I had to keep dancing. My dance did help a bit but it wasn't enough. The pressure in my chest was still getting to me, but at least I knew dancing was going to help. I didn't think ballet was going to take the edge off so I took off my pointes shoes and pulled my convertible tights over my feet. After putting my sweats back on I changed my music to shuffle in my "My Underwear Dancing" playlist.

The first song that came on was "Run Devil Run" by Girls' Generation. I chuckled at that, not only was it a perfect song to take the edge off, it was the Japanese version too. I had intended to just do some kind of freestyle but the moment I heard the song start I felt like doing the actual dance from the music video. That thought made me think of Emily back home... She's always looking for music videos that had a lot of dance in it and whenever she found a good one she would force me to try and learn it then show it to her. This song was definitely one of them...

And I was pretty grateful for it now since it helped relax some of the pressure in my chest. I could just have fun with this dance and, because I can, I would put more emphasis on the hip movements or make some of the arm work more jerky whenever I thought it called for it. By the end of the dance I couldn't hold in my small giggle anymore. I always have so much fun with that dance so when I got half way through it was like the pressure in my chest just disappeared. I totally felt better but now I was in "Dance Mode" so I kept going.

I must have gone through at least five whole songs before I decided to stop. I didn't want to completely tire myself out before dinner. Plus, I had a serious sweat going on and I didn't want to stink up the whole compound with my B.O. After throwing my shirt over my shoulder I quickly gathered up the rest of my stuff and left.

The moment my foot touched the dirt Hiei appeared in front of me. "Holy fuck!" I cussed in English as I jumped back. I didn't mean to speak in English, or cuss for that matter, but at least I didn't stumble when I jumped.

Hiei eyed me for a second. "We're starting your training right now."

I was about to agree but then his words actually sunk in. "Wait, what? Right now this very moment?"

"Did I stutter?" He narrowed his eyes on me.

"No you didn't, Mr. Big Shot. I was just hoping that if I had training, I would have been notified sooner..." I returned the same narrowed eyes. If I learnt anything from being short it was that I don't take shit from anybody. Intimidation was nothing on me.

"What did you call me?" He took a step towards me and I returned it.

"Mr. Big Shot. Now where is this training going to take place?"

"Huh, I can't tell if you're stupid or brave." Hiei seemed to relax a bit.

"I'd like to say brave, but I've been told otherwise sometimes." Before Hiei could comment I said, "So... where's this training going to take place?"

"The same clearing that you were at yesterday."

I let him know that I got it before I ran off towards the house. I wish I knew earlier that I would start training right away, otherwise I wouldn't have danced so much. Refusing to show that I was tired and unable to step up to this challenge, I ran up to my room to quickly change.

If Hiei was going to have to train this demon then he wanted to get an idea on what he had to deal with. He was standing on one of the trees when he saw Aly-Jay leaving the house with a few odd items in her hands. This might be his chance. While keeping a safe distance in the trees, Hiei followed the odd demon until she stopped to talk to Genkai.

"Would you happen to have a room or area with a bit of empty space? And maybe a stereo?" _Hmm, why would she need that?_ He didn't get the impression that she knew how to fight but maybe he was wrong. He, most of all, knew that being small in size means nothing on skill.

As Aly-Jay moved to the other room Hiei eyed the odd pair of shoes she had hanging over her shoulders. He'd never seen anything like them before; what could they be used for? It was obvious that Aly-Jay knew her body well, especially when she started to stretch. Hiei couldn't deny that he was impressed. The way she bended her body and how she knew which muscles to work at... Maybe she wont be as horrible to train as he had thought. Hiei continued to watch as she put on the odd pair of shoes, he was curious as to what she'd do next. _Was she standing on her toes?_ That had to be painful... Again, Hiei couldn't help but be impressed. He had first thought she was some weak, pathetic, half human that couldn't control her own power, but now it was seemed like she knew what she was doing and plus some. But what is up with her shoes?

Hiei felt planted as Aly-Jay suddenly started to dance. He'd never seen anything like this... While Hiei was familiar with what dancing was he had never seen anything so graceful. Her balance was incredible, and the way she would dance around on her toes as if it were nothing... Hiei couldn't turn away. And Aly-Jay looked so... comfortable, and at peace. Hiei had to admit that he enjoyed watching her.

"It's ballet, Hiei."

Hiei tensed as he tried not to jump at the sound of Kurama's voice. He looked down and frowned at Kurama. "I just wanted to see what I have to deal with if I'm being forced to train her."

"Of course," Kurama said before he jumped up to join Hiei in the tree. He watched with Hiei for a little longer before he continued. "What she's doing is really impressive. It takes years to be able to do what she's doing while making it look like it's nothing."

Hiei simply nodded as he thought that over. "I'd like to see what she can really do... We'll start to train her in an hour."

Kurama looked down at Hiei. "Are you sure? She might not be able to handle any kind of training so soon."

"Then maybe I wasn't wrong. If she can't handle something basic than she's not worth my time."

"If you say so. I'll go tell the others, I'm sure they'd like to see how she does." Kurama jumped down. He looked up at Hiei before he left. Aly-Jay is a good performer, the type of dancer where people could just stare and watch her all day. Kurama can clearly see it for himself, but when watching Hiei watch her... Kurama smirked, it's nice to see that Hiei is being a little bit more open with himself. Even if he only does it when he thinks he's alone.

Hiei continued to watch as Aly-Jay kept dancing. She has a lot of stamina and Hiei couldn't wait to see how far he could push her. He only hoped she wouldn't stumbled all over the place and that she could actually take a beating. Hiei kept telling himself that he was only watching so he could study her movements and guess how she would handle her training but the more he watched the more he began to enjoy it. When he finally realized that he huffed and looked away. Great, he's been in the human world for less than a day and he's already going soft.

Just as Hiei was about to leave he heard Aly-Jay turn off her music. He looked to see her gathering all her stuff before finally leaving. Perfect, just in time for her to start her training. Hiei waiting for Aly-Jay to take a few steps before jumping down in front of her. As she jumped in surprised she said something he didn't understand but at least she was able to stand on her feet. Good.

"We're starting your training right now."

Hiei watched as she just seemed to accept that but then seemed kind of shocked. "Wait, what? Right now this very moment?" She appeared to slouch a bit.

Hmm, she is weak. "Did I stutter?"

"No you didn't, Mr. Big Shot. I was just hoping that if I had training, I would have been notified sooner..." She squared her shoulders and lifted her chin a bit. Hiei could tell that she had gotten tired but liked the fact that she didn't back down.

But he didn't like the fact that she had insulted him. She's weak and stupid. "What did you call me?" And just to see what she would do, he took a step closer to her. He was surprised that she took a step closer as well. She didn't seem scared at all. What is up with this girl?

After they had finished talking, Hiei watched her run off. She is definitely an odd girl... But there's something so different about her that he couldn't decided if he'd want to kill her or actually train her...

_(Link to the dances are in my profile if you're interested. You don't have to watch them if you don't want to =D )_


	6. Chapter 6

After finding out that I had to start training right away, I rushed off to my room to peel off my leotard and tights. I didn't want to waste time going through my bags to find fresh clothes so I just quickly put a sports bra over my regular one and put my sweats and tank top back on. Thinking that Hiei wasn't the type to have his time wasted, I quickly went to the bathroom and had a tall glass of water from the kitchen so I didn't have to worry about it later.

I took a deep breath hoping it would help my lack of energy before rushing off to the clearing Hiei was talking about. When I arrived, I noticed all the guys were there including Genkai. Great... An audience. Yusuke and Kuwabara were off to the side talking while Kurama was standing not that far off listening to Genkai. Hiei, on the other hand, was standing in the middle of the clearing looking rather impatient.

Not wanting to let _his highness_ wait any longer I walked up to Hiei trying my best to not show how tired I had gotten. "So... Let's do... this?" Way to sound confident, Aly-Jay...

Hiei narrowed his eyes at me before taking a step back in some kind of battle stance before creating some kind of black fire ball in his hand. Not even a second later he threw it at me.

I gasped and tried to dodge to my right but it wasn't any good. The fire ball hit me square in the left shoulder. The burning sensation was so intense that I couldn't help but let out a horrifying scream before falling on my back.

"What the heck, Hiei?" I heard Kuwabara yell.

I went to hold onto my shoulder but the moment I got too close it only made the pain increase. Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't cry. Shaking, I rolled over to crawl onto my knees and hold my left arm against my chest.

"Was that really necessary, Hiei?" Genkai said, as she began to walk over to me.

"Why should I waste my time on her if she can't even dodge a simple fire ball?"

If I wasn't in so much pain at the moment, I would have tried to rip him a new one for that comment. As I was hunched over I could hear the rest of the gang rushing over to me. It wasn't much of a surprise to hear them trying to see if I was okay. It was even less of a surprise to hear Kuwabara's voice over everyone else. I felt Genkai place a hand on my back before telling me to roll over. When I was on my back, Genkai leaned down to look at the burn. Before she could do anything, the pain suddenly increased but this time it felt five times more intense. I arched my back before letting out a scream. Next thing I knew, the pain was completely gone and I was left panting.

"What the-" I heard Genkai say in shock. "It's gone."

"How is that possible?" Kuwabara said.

Frowning, I looked at my shoulder only to see that it looked perfectly fine. I sat up and gently poked it with my finger. "How could that have happened?" I continued to stare at my shoulder before something occurred to me. "Could it be because of my fire demon side?"

Genkai shrugged slightly. "It's the only thing I could think of. But I've never seen anything like that happen before. Hmm."

I looked over at Hiei and caught him starting at my shoulder with an odd expression on his face. When he saw me looking at him he quickly averted her gaze. After a second, I got back up onto my feet and let out a breath sharply. I took a step towards Hiei before saying, "Something tells me that you're not done yet."

Hiei looked over at me before he pulled his cloak off and threw it aside. "I'm telling you right now, I am not going to go easy on you. If I'm the one that has to train you, than you better expect to work hard."

With a frown, I crossed my arms. "For some reason, I'm not surprised."

The next two hours were a living hell. For some reason, I found it hard to retain some of the key moves. That, and I realized my balance from ballet did _not_ translate into fighting. At one point I'm pretty sure I violated the ground without meaning to. When I got up from another horrible dodge, I couldn't hide the fact that I was completely exhausted. I stumbled before I could get my balance but it didn't stop the forest from spinning. As I grabbed my head with both hands I let out a tired sigh.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Hiei cross his arms. The little jerk hasn't even broken a sweat. "Humph, typical human, can barely stand up. I'm done with you today."

Too tired to come up with some kind of come back, I simply nodded and started to walk over to the house. When I reached the guys they got up from their sitting position and walked with me towards the house.

Yusuke handed me an unopened candy bar. "We went off and got snacks an hour ago. We all know how Hiei is so I figured you'd need this."

"Thanks," I said as I grabbed it. It took longer than it should have to open it since I had a hard time closing my hand enough to get it open. When I was finally able to take a bite, I couldn't help but moan at the fact that I had food in my mouth. Ignoring the guys chuckling, I walked into the house and looked to my right at the stairs. I took a step towards it and sighed. There was no way I'd make it up the stairs.

"You okay, Aly-Jay?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah I'm just going to," I sat down on the second step, "rest for a little bit."

Kurama smiled down at me before asking, "Are you sure?"  
I simply nodded and rested my head on one of the steps. I'll rest my eyes for one second, just for one second. When I opened my eyes five seconds later I found myself lying in bed. What? I sat up only to groan and flop back down. My whole body felt stiff, god, even my nose and ears. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Something didn't feel right. I shifted around a bit but it only made the feeling worse. I looked down at myself and noticed I was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. The sweat from the major work out made the clothes stick to my body and go all stiff. Gross. Too gross. That alone made me find the will to get up. After grabbing a towel that was sitting at the desk chair and a change of clothes I headed to the bathroom to shower. Since I felt gross and stiff, I took a lot longer than necessary in the shower.

When I finally got out, I felt a lot better; still stiff, but a lot better. I went to my room to put the clothes in a laundry hamper just in time to see Mizu come in through the window. When he saw me he meowed and ran up to me, and rubbed himself against me legs. I picked him up and snuggled him a little. Looks like someone was worried about me. He struggled in my arms a little so I placed him on the bed. As I was leaning down I took a glance at my clock beside the bed. Only six AM? Really? I looked out into the hall way and saw that all the lights were out and the doors were closed. I'm pretty sure I heard some snoring as well. Half a second later my stomach yelled at me to go get some breakfast.

It didn't need to tell me twice. I was in the mood for some french toast so I made my way down stairs, through the living room, and into the kitchen at the back of the house. Mizu followed me down and into the kitchen while doing some exploring on the way. As he wondered, I could tell that he didn't stay out of eye sight for very long. I went over to the fridge and opened what I thought would be a breadbox. Bingo. Next came the butter and eggs. As I went about making them, I even found some maple syrup. However, with the first few that I made my hunger began to get worse. As I placed three more onto the pan, I couldn't wait any longer so I grabbed one and ripped it in half then shoved one half in my mouth without thinking. It burned my tongue but I didn't care. All I knew was that I need to eat something, anything. When I shoved the second half into my mouth, I realized that it was because of the lack of energy. Not this again...

Then another thought came to mind. Forks! I should have checked for forks and knifes before I started making them. I started going through a bunch of drawers looking for any kind of cutlery. It was on my fourth try when I found them. There was a bunch of forks and knifes next to some chopsticks. Phew, good. I made a mental note on the drawer was so I could grab them when everyone was ready to eat.

I took control of my hunger and waited until I finished cooking enough french toast for everyone. When I was making the last of it I heard the guys start to work their way downstairs. I found it a little odd that they woke up at around the same time, but I'm sure with them living together for so long makes them get on the same kind of schedule.

"What's that smell?" I heard Yusuke ask. "It's smells... good."

"Really good," Kuwabara added.

As they started to head to the kitchen, I grabbed the plate out of the oven that had the ones I made first and some forks and knifes. Just as I was finished placing everything on the island, the guys walked into the kitchen.

"Whoa!" Kuwabara said. "What is this?"  
I handed him an empty plate and a fork and knife. "French toast. I woke up really early this morning and had a craving for them. It seemed rude to not make some for everybody."

The three of them looked a little excited as they sat around the island and helped themselves to a few. That's when I noticed Hiei wasn't with them. After looking around the room I realized he wasn't around at all. "Where's Hiei?"

Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. I heard the front door open and peeked out of the kitchen to see Hiei walk in. Did he sleep at all? As I watched him go sit at the window seat, I saw that his hair and cloak where wet; I looked out the window and saw that it was raining. After he showed no sign of coming for breakfast I decided to grab a plate for him. I placed two pieces on a plate and added a little syrup. I took a deep breath to calm my rising nerves before going over to Hiei. He narrowed his eyes at me when I reached out the plate to him, but he didn't grab it.

"Look," I started, "I know our first day of training wasn't that successful but I want you to know that I don't plan on giving up. I've had to deal with these... sides fighting since I was little. I want nothing more than to be able to take these bracelets off and stop hiding. So here, a peace offering." I placed the plate by his feet since that was the only area there was space. Worried about what he might say, I quickly turned around and headed back into the kitchen.

I avoided Kurama's gaze when I went to grab my own plate. There were eight pieces left so I grabbed four. I knew I was going to need energy so I decided sugar was the way to go. I sat next to Kuwabara as he went to grab another piece.

"These are really good, Aly-Jay. I guess having a girl in this house has some advantages."

"Thanks," I said with a laugh. When I was done eating and washing my plate I went to go grab the plate I gave to Hiei. Expecting the plate to be untouched, I was surprised to see the plate completely empty and Hiei gone. I couldn't help but stare for a second before grabbing it and going to clean it. When all was said and done I thought it was finally time to stretch out my stiff muscles. Since I had changed into loose comfortable clothes I didn't have to change so I went straight to the front door. After taking one step outside, I tilted my head back and let some of the rain fall onto my face. The rain always brought a sense of peace since I've been more in touch with my water demon side then my fire demon side. As I made my way to the room I was dancing in yesterday I ran into Kurama.

"Hi, Kurama," I said with a smile.

"Hello, Aly-Jay. I know you had a tough day yesterday, but I think we can all agree that we need to figure out what is going on with your powers. I hope you don't mind."

I shook my head. "Nah, that's fine, although I would like to stretch a little."

"That's fine. The guys wanted to join as well so I hope you don't mind them training as well." He started to walk towards the room so I followed him.

Everyone was already there when Kurama and I arrived. Since the guys wanted to work on their stuff as well we all stretched together. While I tried to do some basic stretches, I found it didn't get rid of a lot of the stiffness. But when I started to work on my over splits I began to feel a lot better. When I was done, and put everything back into place, I looked over at everyone to see a lot of them staring at me. I froze and looked down at myself to see if anything embarrassing was showing.

I frowned and looked back at them. "What?"

"How can you do that?" Kuwabara asked.

"Do what? You guys are pretty flexible to."

"I have never seen anyone do those splits before," Yusuke added.

"The over splits? It comes with a lot of practice." There was a pause. "So, what am I doing today?"

Kurama stood up and came up to me. "Today I thought we could work on your strength. Is there anything you want to start first?"

As a dancer, I was always told that we needed to look like athletes from the waist down and artists from the waist up. Needless to say I have absolutely no upper body strength. To make a point to Kurama, I lifted one of my arms at an angle and flexed; there was no change. "I'd say arms" Everyone but Hiei chuckled before we got started.

When it was time for lunch I could barely lift my arms anymore. And it was like this for weeks. My days were filled with training and I could see a lot of improvement. However, it seems like my clumsy-ness really slowed down my dodging. If I wasn't getting hit by something, I was kissing the ground.

I flopped down on my bed after a full day of training. Mizu instantly crawled onto my back to curl into a ball. I was saddened at the fact that he has gotten bigger but I couldn't deny that he was still a beautiful cat. It was a little odd that he still hasn't shown any affection to the other guys but at least he didn't completely avoid them like when we first arrived. While I didn't want to ruin Mizu's relaxation, I didn't want to stay in these sweaty clothes. I slowly stood up and went off to shower and change into my pyjamas.

When I crawled into bed I could only embrace the wonderful relaxation and rest the sleep would give me. Five seconds later I rolled over, and again in another five seconds. I was staring up at the ceiling when I started to get that feeling again. It was the same feeling I had a few months ago. My body was screaming at me to fall asleep but my mind just wouldn't allow it. Fuck. I sat up and took a deep breath. From the corner of my eye I could see Mizu watching me from my desk chair. I sighed and flopped back down on my back. Not this again. I rolled onto my stomach and shut my eyes tightly. Go to sleep. Go to sleep. Go to sleep.

Mizu meowed from across the room and I looked over at him just in time to see him leave the room through the window. That gave me an idea. I got up and exchanged my shorts for a pair of sweats and put a cardigan over my tee. Since it was still summer the air was warm at night so I didn't bother putting on anything else. I poked my head out into the hallway and saw all the doors were closed. Not wanting to wake anyone up, I quietly walked past all the doors and headed outside. I took a deep breath of fresh air before I started walking. I wasn't sure where I was heading, I just started walking hoping it bring some kind of peace. But there was no such luck.

I wasn't sure how long I had been walking until I came across a little lake. Hmm, this might be a good thing. I walked up to the lake and sat down on my knees so I could watch the water ripple. Since my water demon side has played more of a role in my life, I've always found water to be super relaxing. As I watched the waters movement, I reached forward and dipped one of my fingers inside the water and started to make circular moments. Using my other hand, I pulled up the sleeve of my cardigan to look at the bracelet. Wondering if they contained my powers completely, I decided to test it out.

I began to speed up the circular movements as I started to lift my finger. The water began to rise with my finger and I couldn't help but smile. I guess I can control water a little bit. I pulled out a little more water so I could make a small water ball. After letting it float in the palm of my hand for a couple seconds, I placed my other hand over the water ball and when I pulled it back the water transformed into the form of a rose. This time my smile grew into a little giggle. My favourite flower.

The next thing I knew a burning pain went through my opposite hand. I gasped in pain as I lost control of the water. It didn't look like there was anything wrong with it but the pain was undeniable. It felt like my hand was literally on fire. I held my burning hand in my other as I tried to find a way to cool it down. I threw my hand into the lake only to have the water start to boil and steam up. "What the hell?" I said as I pulled my hand back. Something like this has never happened before but it almost felt like my fire demon side was trying to set itself free. The pain showed so sign of going away and it felt like the only thing I could do was rock back and forth. I let out a little cry as I tried to think of a way to get rid of the pain.

All of a sudden I heard something drop behind me. I quickly snapped my head around only to see Hiei standing there. That only made me groan. I didn't think I could handle his attitude when I'm feeling like this. "Please, Hiei," I groaned. "Not right now. Go away."

He only narrowed his eyes at me a second before forming some kind of black fire ball in his hand. Without warning he threw it at me. I squeaked as I raised my right, burning, hand to protect my face. Nothing happened, which only made me freeze for a couple seconds. Then I noticed that the burning in my hand was gone. I opened my eyes and got a better look at my hand. I gasped when I saw the fire dancing all over my hand. Shocked, I looked up at Hiei to see him watching the fire in my hand.

"I don't understand... How did you know to try that?" I asked him.

Hiei only turned his back at me. "You shouldn't be out at this hour."

I couldn't help but smile a little at his comment. After watching the fire for a couple more seconds, I brought my hand up to my face and blew. The fire danced away before it disappeared. "Sorry," I heard myself say. "I couldn't sleep." There was a pause. "I'll head back now." I stood up and started to walk past Hiei and towards the house. When I was a few steps ahead of him, I stopped and turned my face around. "I could use some company, if you don't mind." To my surprise, he walked up to me and waited until I started walking as well. We walked in silence for a couple seconds before I decided to fill the silence. "Thank you by the way." I forced myself to stare ahead when I felt Hiei looking over at me. "For all the patience and training. And for the hand thing." Another pause. "I know my defensive skills aren't improving as fast as everything else but I swear I am trying my hardest. I just think I need to find some kind of... motivation or something to help me stay focused." There was another pause which only made me sigh in defeat.

"You have improved a lot, anyone can see that. I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Surprised, I looked over at Hiei with a smile. "Thank you." He looked over at me, and we locked eyes. I stopped walking when I felt like there was more to him than the snarly attitude. After the few weeks that we've been training together I could tell that he didn't hate me or anything, but I didn't expect him to open show some kind of compassion. I could feel my cheeks redden and a second later Hiei disappeared. I turned in a full circle trying to see where he went off to, and then I saw that we had made it to the house. With a sigh of defeat, I made my way back to my room.

I flopped onto my bed, and was awake just long enough to feel Mizu crawl onto my back to fall asleep as well. The first thing I did when I woke the next morning was to check the time. Hmm, two hours. Better than nothing anyways. So it's one in the morning. What can a girl do around here at one in the morning? I looked over at one of my bags and wondered if I brought my kobo. Trying to avoid kicking Mizu, who had moved down to my feet, I went over to my bag and found it. I sighed with relief, now I had something to do for a few hours.

Hiei watched Aly-Jay walk up to her room after a long day of training. He couldn't deny the fact that she has been working as hard as she could. Every morning he saw her drag herself out of bed, exhausted or sore, and yet she never complained. Being half human, she wasn't as bad as he thought she would be. That and he couldn't help but be curious about her mixed heritage. The energy he felt when Genkai took off her bracelets was extraordinary. Nothing compared to the lack of energy he felt now. It was like she was completely human.

As everyone else headed off to bed, he figured he might as well such his eyes for a bit, even though he wasn't really tired. He lied on his bed, on his back, and shut his eyes. It couldn't have been more than ten seconds before he heard Aly-Jay getting up. She seemed so exhausted when she went to bed that it didn't make any sense for her to be up. But Hiei only shrugged it off before shutting his eyes again. If he had to deal with her moving around all night he was not looking forward to having a room next to hers. He opened his eyes again when he heard Aly-Jay open her door a few seconds before she started to head downstairs.

What was she up to? Curious, he opened his window just as Aly-Jay started to walk away from the house. Wanting to know what she was doing, he opened his window intending to jump to the nearest tree. That's when he came face-to-face with Mizu. They both just watched each other with the same calculating stare. Mizu was the first to give in by letting out a soft meow before rubbing himself against the tree. Hiei waited until Mizu jumped down before following Aly-Jay through the trees. When she stopped at the lake, he watched as she dipped her finger in the water. She looked so at peace when playing with the water; exhausted, but at peace.

Hiei's eyes widened when Aly-Jay created a water ball in the palm of her hand. Even with the bracelets on she was able to command water. Maybe she's more powerful than he thought. This only caused his curious to grow. Maybe helping her command fire will would more beneficial for himself. Aly-Jay's soft giggle brought his attention back to her. He narrowed his eyes at her when a weird feeling went through his veins. Before he could think about it too much, he heard Aly-Jay let out a painful gasp. He watched as she cradled one of her hands in the other. Suddenly he felt some kind of energy coming from Aly-Jay. It was faint, but undeniably some kind of fire demon energy. He was right, she was more powerful than he thought.

When Aly-Jay let out a cry in pain, Hiei surprised himself by actually feeling like he wanted to get rid of her pain. Hmm, if it's actually her fire side that he felt than maybe... He jumped down and made sure he made some kind of sound when he landed behind her. Trying to hide his surprise over the fact that she asked him to leave rather than receive his help, he narrowed his eyes before quickly calling upon the mortal flame to throw at her. Hmm, he was right. Her fire side just wanted some kind of release.

He surprised himself again when he found himself walking with her towards the house. It looks like the time he spend training with her caused him to gain a little respect her. While listening to Aly-Jay ramble, he realized that she didn't really believe in herself. He didn't like her lack of confidence. It's pathetic really, her human side was too much for him. He fully intended on letting her know of her weaknesses but when he started to talk he realized that he was comforting her. Unable to resist looking at her when he could feel her watching him. He could see past that gentle stare of hers and saw that there was a lot of strength and determination. When he realized that he was staring he quickly jumped back up into the trees.

**(Surprise! Early post! I normally don't like leaving messages in a chapter-because I feel like they take away the charm, feeling, escape, etc. from the story itself-but I just wanted you guys to know that I'll be trying to keep you guys up to date on what's going on with me and the story through my profile. So, if you don't already check that out when I post a new chapter, I would like it if you guys did. Just to be kept up to date. You don't have to! I just wanted you guys to be aware that I will be doing that. Also, I'm keeping my fingers crossed so this wont happen again. Happy Reading!) **


	7. Chapter 7

By the time the guys came downstairs in the morning I had breakfast made for them. I couldn't get any more sleep last night so I read until five in the morning then decided to start making breakfast. This time I decided by mixing it up between a traditional Japanese breakfast with some western flare. There was steamed rice, miso soup, fresh fruit, fried eggs, and some toast. Since my body felt so exhausted, I decided that I couldn't wait for the guys to help themselves first. I was sitting down with about to take my first bite when they came into the kitchen.

"Whoa!" Kuwabara said. "Another cooked breakfast? That cereal was getting boring." He started to help himself to the food. "It sure is nice having a girl living here."

All I could do was smile between bites. The only thing that made me pause was when Hiei came into the kitchen to help himself to some of the food. I watched him put a little bit of everything on his plate before going to the living room to sit by the window. While I was taking another bite I began to feel like someone was watching me. I looked around to see Kurama's eyes on me. Once we made eye contact I quickly looked away and helped myself to some more fruit. It wasn't until we were done that Kurama approached me.

"Aly-Jay, is everything all right?"  
I nodded. "Yeah, why do you ask?"

"You just seem really really tired or something"

I looked over at him and forced a giggle. "You know... People often say that as a nice way to say someone looks like crap."

Kurama smiled down at me, but I couldn't help but think it was as forced as my giggle. "I have the feeling that I shouldn't dig myself a deeper hole." That giggle of mine wasn't forced. "Anyways, I think we should have a day off of training today. You've been working very hard so you deserve it."

"Um... Sure." I narrowed my eyes at him but decided to drop the topic. "I guess I'll go find something to do than." I felt Kurama watch me leave the kitchen to go upstairs. I needed to do something about this energy. Since I haven't danced since training started I figured that would be a good place to start. After changing into my dance attire and grabbed my pointe shoes and iPod, I headed off to the training building. I bumped into Genkai on the way. We exchanged good mornings but I couldn't help but notice she gave me the same kind of look as Kurama. I just stood there and watched Genkai enter one of her rooms. I'm not going to lie, I don't think I like the fact that I can't really hide anything from these people.

Just when I was about to enter the training room, I saw a couple of guys walking up to the compound. While I knew some people came to see Genkai, these guys seemed different. I don't know if it's the demon in me or just my womanly instincts, but something seemed off with these guys; something dangerous. They were only a few feet away when they finally noticed me. Both of them froze when they saw me. They looked at each for a few seconds before they turned back at me.

"Hey there." One of them took a step towards me. "We're looking for Master Genkai."

I narrowed my eyes at them before pointing to the room Genkai entered. "She should be in there."

"Thank you." Both of them bowed a little before walking off. I waited until they were out of sight before I went to start my work out. Right before they went into the room where Genkai was, one of them looked over his shoulder and straight at me. A shiver went down my spine so I quickly went inside to start.

I knew I wasn't up to anything fast paced but I was willing to try and do the black swan variation from Swan Lake. This dance mostly called for balance because of the turns and everything, so that's what I mostly focused on. When I was done I took a little walk around in a circle. The dance helped a little but I still felt horrible. I turned back towards the mirror only to see Kurama standing in the door way. How long was he standing there? I could feel myself blush; while I have danced in front of hundreds of people it's much more nerve racking actually seeing the audience watch me.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything. I heard music coming from here and got curious. You're an amazing dancer." Kurama took a step into the room.

"Um, thanks." I couldn't help but feel like he was going some where with this.

There was a moment of silence before he continued. "I couldn't help but notice that you have really good balance."

Ah, okay, I get it now. "Yeah, you know what they say about ballerinas. Graceful on the dance floor, clumsy everywhere else; like training for example." I honestly have no idea how I can manage my balance during dance but not during my training.

"Hmm. Would you mind doing the dance again?" Kurama asked. I could tell he was thinking about something. Hopefully a helpful solution to my training troubles. "Although, I would also like to get the others for some other opinions."

I rubbed my chest in nervousness. The others? I could feel myself blush at the thought of the guys watching me. "Sure, I don't mind," I heard myself say. Ugh, something tells me I'm going to regret this. While Kurama was gone to get the others, I did a couple of ankle exercises, anything to get my mind off the thought of the guys watching me. I was going to mess up or something, I just knew it.

"I didn't know you danced," I heard Yusuke say from the door. I turned to see them all standing in the door way, even Hiei.

"Yeah," I said, "for as long as I can remember." There was a pause while I just stood there awkwardly. "So... lets get this over with." I went over to my iPod while the guys settled in. This isn't a big deal. It's only one dance, Aly-Jay. Just don't mess up.

I took a deep breath as I started the music and went into the starting position. As I danced, I tried my best not to look at any of the guys and instead made sure to look above their heads. When I finally finished I still refused to look at them. Not that it really mattered since the guys started talking as if I wasn't even in the room.

"I can see what you mean, Kurama," Yusuke said. "She has a lot more focus when she dances."

"I don't get it..." Kuwabara mumbled. "She's a good dancer, is there more to it? What were we looking for."

Hiei looked over at Kuwabara as if he were an idiot. Just when he was about to say something Kurama stepped in. "It seems when Aly-Jay starts to dance, she's able to focus a lot better on her balance than when she's training. Perhaps the music helps her find some kind of rhythm. If she can have music to listen to than maybe she can focus a lot better on her balance."

Yusuke thought it over. "I don't really know much about dance, but if she were to follow some kind of beat, wouldn't that make her moves predictable?"

"I think it's something that we should try."

Oooookay, this whole acting-as-if-I'm-not-in-the-room thing is starting to get irritating. I crossed my arms and started to tap one of my feet. "Well I like this whole problem solving thing, I am standing right here..."

All the guys turned to me. Kurama gave a soft smile before saying, "You're right. My apologies. Are you willing to try something like that? I think it's worth a shot."

"I guess," I said. "I'm willing to try anything. Better than nothing right?"

They all seemed to agree. As they left, I went to grab my iPod since my body was only getting worse. I had only taken two steps before my knees gave out. Kurama, having been the last one to leave, came up and knelt beside me.

He placed a hand on my back and asked, "Are you okay? Whats wrong?"  
I tried to shake him off. "Nothing, I'm just tired. I didn't get much sleep last night, that's all."

"You didn't get much sleep? After the training you went through yesterday? You seemed so exhausted when you went to bed."

"Aly-Jay needs to drink this." Both Kurama and I looked over at the door to see Genkai standing there. "We can't wait much longer. Either Aly-Jay needs to gain control over her powers or it will eat her alive." She came over to hand me the cup. "This will help you sleep. It's time to move onto working on your demon sides. She's gotten a lot stronger over the past few weeks." She made a point by poking at my arms that now actually had muscle. "You could still use some work but we can't wait any longer. Mixed elemental demons are rare enough as it is but no one has ever inherited both elements. But what I'm most surprised about is how much it's poisoning you. From what I've seen, your fire side is trying to unleash itself. It's almost like it's angry from being bound and wants full control. Either you gain control over your fire side or you'll continue to be poisoned. Now drink."

I took the drink while thinking about what Genkai said. She makes sense but now I began to think "why me?" my mom was the first one born by water and fire, why not her? I started to get back up to get back to my room but that tea worked a lot faster than I expected. Thankfully Kurama was around to catch me when I swayed. I tried to gesture him away but I only stumbled again.

"No... I'm fine," I mumbled, "I can... make..." Next thing I knew everything when black.

When I woke up, I was lying on my bed with a very empty stomach. I looked over at my clock and saw that it was almost dinner time. After changing into some fresh clothes, I headed downstairs to the kitchen to see Kurama cooking dinner. When I got closer I saw he was preparing rice and fish.

"Do you need a hand?" I asked him as I leaned against the island.

Kurama looked over his shoulder at me before answering. "If you want." He nodded towards the fridge. "There should be some fresh vegetables in there."

I went over to check. Sure enough, here were a bunch of them. I grabbed some broccoli, cabbage and some beets. As I set up some kind of cooking station on the island, I began to think about Hiei and last night. It's obvious that he isn't the friendly type, or someone to would open up. But I couldn't help but think that he isn't as bad as I thought he was. I looked over at Kurama and thought maybe I could ask him about Hiei. But would he get the wrong idea? That and it isn't really my place to ask... Curiosity did kill the cat. Oh fuck it, I need to know.

"Hey, Kurama." I paused to gather a bit more courage. "How long have you know Hiei?"

He looked up at the ceiling as he thought it over. "I can't be too sure actually. But has been a long time."

"This is probably going to sound rude, but has he always had this nasty attitude?"

Kurama actually laughed at that. "If you think his attitude is horrible now, you should have seen him a few years ago." He paused to check on the rice. "He hasn't had the greatest childhood. After being cast out from an all-female race, he grew up with a group of thieves. But they to cast him out as well. He doesn't have a great fondness for humans, especially since he was forced to live in human world. But I think Yusuke, and perhaps even Kuwabara, have softened him up a bit. But you can't let him know that I said that." He winked at me. "He may not be that friendly when you first met him, but he does have a strong sense of honour and respect to those he becomes close to."

I nodded. "That makes sense." I placed the chopped vegetables in a pot as I thought about what Kurama said. So Hiei isn't as horrible as he lets on. From what Kurama said, I can only assume that he's kind of lonely. I can kind of understand the unpleasant feeling of being lonely. I wonder if I could get past his aloof personality.

When dinner was finished, I went to go get the guys while Kurama set the table. I couldn't find Hiei but Yusuke and Kuwabara were upstairs. However, when I went back downstairs there was Hiei sitting at the window seat. I told him that dinner was ready but he showed no interest in coming to dinner. Baby steps, Aly-jay. Baby steps. When I got back into the kitchen I decided to make a little tray for him. Without a word, or eye contact, I placed it at his feet and went off to eat my own dinner.

"Jeez, Yusuke! If you eat any more, you're going to get fat." Kuwabara said.

"You're one to talk, Kuwabara. How many servings have you had? Five?"

I couldn't help but giggle at their banter. "I think I just realized why I don't feel so homesick." All three looked over at me. "You guys are exactly like my friends back home. So different from another, always bickering, yet we all loved each other."

"Love?" Kuwabara yelled. "What is wrong with you?"

I laughed and punched him in the arm. "You know what I mean."

"So, I'm thinking about opening some kind of shop," Yusuke said between bites. "Maybe sell ramen or something."

"That's a good idea, Yusuke," said Kurama.

"What do you know about opening a shop?" Kuwabara asked.

Yusuke glare at Kuwabara. "A hell of a lot more than you."

Dinner went on like this. It was actually quite refreshing. I've been training so hard lately that I never had time to actually sit down and eat with these guys. I was a little surprised by how much they reminded me of my friends back home. Always arguing about something but everyone knew we shared a bond that was undeniably strong. It was also refreshing that, for once, I wasn't the one that was the target of teasing. These guys were used to being around short people so there was not reason for them to go after me. Kuwabara, on the other hand, was a much easier target.

When everyone was done dinner, Kurama and I went about gathering the plates while Yusuke and Kuwabara got up to watch TV or something. I looked over at them and cleared my throat.

"And where do you think you guys are going?"

"Uh," was Yusukes reply.

"Kurama and I made dinner, you guys should be the ones to clean up."

"But I hate the dishes." Kuwabara waved his arms around.

I crossed my arms and started to tap one of my feet.

"I've seen that look before," Yusuke said as he headed to the sink. "If you know what's good for you, Kuwabara, I'd start washing."

As the boys started to wash the dishes I went to go grab Hiei's plate. Just as I expected, Hiei was gone, but his plate empty. After giving it to the boys, I went upstairs to shower and blow dry my hair then stretch before bed. Mizu played with one of his toys as I stretched but when it got later in the night I started to notice that Mizu was acting strange. He would either be walking around me in a protective manner or be looking out the window as if waiting for something. Or worse, watching something. I couldn't tell if he was just making me nervous or if this uneasy feeling was actually a warning. It was like something bad was about to happen.

Pushing that thought aside, I crawled into bed and fell asleep. Later that night I got woken up by a hissing sound. I felt some kind of pressure on my chest and when I looked, there was Mizu sitting, hissing at the window. I tried to calm him down by petting him but he wouldn't have it; he only stood up and continued to hiss at the window. When I finally looked, I saw some kind of man crouched staring at me. I thought my next reaction was a rational one, no matter what other people think; I screamed.

Hiei was the first to arrive, probably because his room was right next to mine. But even than, the man in the window was gone by the time he arrived. The others came quickly after. Kurama went straight to my side and placed a hand on my back as if to try and comfort me.

"What happened? What is it?" Yusuke asked.

I pointed to my window. "There was someone there. Watching me."

Hiei quickly went to the window, opened it and went out. I was surprised to see Mizu head out the window as well.

"Are you sure?" Kurama asked.

I nodded. "Without a doubt." I looked down at my hands to see them shaking. "I was woken up, to Mizu hissing at something at the window. When I looked, there was someone there, watching me. It looked like he had a narrow face and blonde hair." Now that I thought about it, he actually kind of looked familiar...

"Creepy," mumbled Kuwabara. I shot a glare his way; you think?

Not too soon after, Hiei came back through the window. "I didn't see anyone. But that filthy smell confirms that a demon was here."

Smell? I couldn't smell anything...

Kurama stood up and looked like he was thinking. "We should go to Genkai."

I thought that was an awesome idea. I quickly grabbed an oversized cardigan and followed Yusuke and Kuwabara out the door. With Kurama and Hiei behind me, I couldn't help but feel like I was being escorted. When we got to Genkai's house I realized that I haven't really seen much of the compound. I need to get out more. Or train less, training less sounds good.

Thankfully, Yusuke was the one brave enough to go wake up Genkai at three in the morning. But I'll admit, I was a little surprised that she was already awake. It didn't take us long to settle down around a table in one of Genkai's rooms, drinking tea.

"And you couldn't find him?" Genkai asked, after she heard the story.

Hiei huffed. "No. He must be very fast. I followed for a few miles but didn't see anything. But I could smell him, he reaked of Demon World."

Genkai looked over at me. The intensity of her stare made me shift a little in discomfort. I could tell that she was thinking the same thing I was; I was just too scared to hear it out loud. I was quiet the during the whole story telling. There's no way that someone could be after me. Okay, yeah, it did make a little sense because I'm "special" or whatever. But it can't actually be happening, can it? It all felt so fake... Never in my life have I expected to be some kind of wanted... demon? Oh my god, okay I need to be thinking about something else.

"I think word has gotten out," Genkai said. "Someone knows that Aly-Jay is the mixed demon."

I said something else, damn it! I looked down at my hands when I felt everyone look at me. While I examined my nails, I noticed that I needed to cut them. I also didn't want to believe that this whole thing is happening, that I am "special" or whatever. If Hiei hadn't thrown that fire ball the other night, I wouldn't have even thought I had the ability to control fire. Okay, lie. It was kind of obvious after what happened when I was five. But still... Okay, I'm rambling, got to stop.

"But how?" Yusuke asked. "It's not like that many people knew. And I don't think any of us told anybody."

"My guess would be that someone sensed her power when we took off her bracelets," Genkai answered. "I'm sure they have been trying to track down the location all this time."

There was a long pause. Okay, I guess I can't ignore this forever, no matter how much I want to.

"So what does this mean, exactly?" I asked. "What happens now?"

"For one thing," Genkai started after taking a sip of tea, "we're going to have to step up your training." Damn. "And we're going to have to be prepared for some unexpected guests."

"Meaning?" I asked.

"We're going to have to keep a better eye on you, Aly-Jay."

"I'm sorry," Hiei said in a sarcastic tone. "But I'm not a babysitter." Without another word, he left.

We all watched Hiei leave. When I turned back to the guys I could tell that no one was excited about being on babysitting duty.

"Look," I started, "I understand the whole 'need to protect me' thing, but I don't want to be of any inconvenience, or anything."

Kurama was the first to hide his discontent. And I'll admit, he did it really well. "It's no problem, at all. I don't think much of us need a lot of sleep either."

I had a hard time believing him. While I wanted to turn down the offer, at the same time, waking up to some stranger in the middle of the night at my window wasn't something I wanted to experience again. With a sigh, I just simply nodded.

Suddenly, all of us heard someone running up to the room. We all turned to the door to see Koenma burst through the door, out of breath. "I got here as soon as I could." He paused to take a few deep breaths. "They know, everyone is Spirit World know that the mixed demon is alive."

All of us just stared at him for a second.

"You're a little late, Koenma," Genkai said. "We just caught, a demon watching Aly-Jay as she slept."

"Demon?" Koenma yelled. "From Demon World?"

She simply nodded.

"This isn't good," he continued. "If people in Demon World, and Spirit World know... Has she gained control over her fire side?" Genkai shook her head. "Why not? She needs to be trained or we're all doomed."

I'm beginning to see why my mom wanted out. No one is acting as if I'm in the room. And I'm not going to lie, it's seriously getting on my nerves. I stood up and said, "Look, I'm okay with the whole 'babysitting' thing, but can we at least act as if I'm in the room. We are talking about me, aren't we?"

"My apologies," Koenma said.

I waved him off. "Whatever. It's fine. I'm going to try and get some more sleep. I'm assuming that my training starts first thing in the morning." On that note, I left to go take a nap.

He was exhausted, sore, and dehydrated but still he ran on. It wasn't long now, he could see the cave in the distance. He paused to take a deep breath before he continued. When he finally arrived at the entrance of the cave, he bit back a groan and walked in.

"You better have brought good news," a deep voice said in the darkness.

The voice caused chills to go down his spine. He looked down at his hands and saw that they were shaking in fear. "We found the mixed demon. We have her exact location."

"But you didn't bring her here?" the voice boomed.

He cowered back. "No, but-"

"Bring her to me!"

Without another word, he turned and ran back out.


	8. Chapter 8

I woke up out of breath and in a cold sweat. It was obvious I had a nightmare, but when I tried to think about it, all I could remember was a sinister laugh. After I caught my breath, I looked over at my clock and saw that it was six in the morning. And on that note, I changed into some workout clothes and went down to get something to eat. When I opened my door I saw Kuwabara sleeping against the wall. So it begins. I tried to be as quiet as I could when I walked down the stairs. I must have been the first one up because I didn't hear anything. Oops, apparently not. I stopped short when I saw Hiei putting away a glass. He heard me in the door way and half a second later he had his sword at my throat. I only had time to squeak, but he quickly realized it was me and put his sword away.

"I'm sorry?" I resisted the urge to slap my forehead. Typical, I was the one with a sword at my throat, and I'm the one saying sorry. I'm so Canadian...

Hiei narrowed his eyes at me. "I didn't think you'd be up this early."

With a frown, I watched him leave. Was that... an apology? I just stood there for a second, in shock. But I shook it off and went to have a bowl of cereal. I was half way through my meal when I heard Kuwabara wake up. He opened my bedroom door, paused and quickly ran downstairs and straight into the kitchen. When he saw me sitting at the table, he placed a hand on his chest and took a deep breath.

He quickly linked his fingers together in a begging manner. "Please, please, please! Don't tell the guys I fell asleep!"

I couldn't help but laugh at his reaction. "I suppose I can let it slide this time. But sleeping on the job, Kuwabara? Shame..."

He went to go grab a bowl and joined me to eat cereal. As we sat in silence, I realized we haven't really talked much. In fact, I haven't really talked much with anyone. I mean, yeah, we spent a lot of time together, but it only involved training. None of us have actually bonded. Man, now I feel kind of lonely.

After I washed my dishes and left them to dry, I headed upstairs to knock on Hiei's door. There was complete silence in Hiei's room. I started to walk away, but I just took one step before the door opened. I stiffened from nervousness; I've never really called on Hiei before. He just stared at me while I stood there awkwardly.

"Hi. So, um. I figured, we could start training now. I don't know if you have plans, or if you're busy or anything. But if you aren't, I figured we could just start now. You know?" Smooth, Aly-Jay, smooth. It's not like he needs another reason to find me weak... I need to find another way to deal with my nerves.

He stared at me for a couple of seconds. "Let's go." He turned to head out so I followed. Hiei only stopped when we got to the clearing. After taking off his cloak, he turned to me. I braced myself for his attack but he simply started talking. "I noticed you have some sort of control over water, even with those stupid bracelets. But you don't seem to have any control over fire."

I nodded. "Water has always been my dominate demon side. Even as a baby I showed some kind of control. In fact, my mother thought I was going to be a water demon only. It wasn't until I was five when my mother realized that I was the mixed demon the prophecy was talking about. And it was obvious that there was no way I could control it; so she bound me. Since I've had a natural control over water, I'm able to control it a little bit. I just can't summon it."

"Hmm," Hiei said as he looked like he was thinking. All of a sudden he disappeared.

"Uh.." I did a three sixty to see where he went off to. As usual, he was no where in sight. Was I suppose to wait? I linked my fingers together and rocked back and forth awkwardly.

It wasn't long before he game back with a makeshift cup filled with water. Without a word, he quickly threw the water at me. I reached out and focused on stopping the water from going any further. The water maintained it's natural flow and movement, but didn't move outside of it's shape. I acted out of reflex, without thought. When I looked over at Hiei, I didn't see any kind of emotion on his face. But he didn't give me that "weak human" look, so that's a good thing right?

"Now make a weapon out of it," he said.

I looked at what little water I was given, a weapon? I thought it over for a second before I started to create an arrowhead. Before I could second guess myself, I threw it at Hiei. His eyes widened a bit but I lost control of the water before it got to him and simply fell to ground. I sighed in defeat as he closed his eyes and shook his head. Half a second later, the burning sensation came back into my right hand. I hissed as I held it with my other hand.

Hiei came over to me and reached into his pants pocket to pull out a lighter. After lighting it, he held it out in front of me and said, "Try to control this."

I slowly reached out my burning hand to place it over the fire. My hand was almost in the fire and it helped the burning sensation but I could barely feel a difference. I tried to make the flame move in any way but I couldn't do it. After taking a deep breath I closed my eyes to focus better but I still got the same results. I sighed again and held my still burning hand against my chest. Hiei sighed as well, but he put the lighter back in his pocket and summoned a fireball in his hand. I was surprised to see him hold out his hand rather than just throw it at me. Narrowing my eyes, I took it from him.

"Try and make something out of it," Hiei said as he took a step back.

At first I tried to make a heart since it wasn't that much different from a circle. Nothing happened. I frowned and tried again. I kept trying until I started to get a headache. Was I really this weak? I can't even make a goddamn heart! Starting to get angry, I yelled and threw the fire ball at the nearest tree. This time, when I threw it, the fireball maintained it's form and actually caused a burn mark in the tree. Surprised, I looked over at Hiei with my eyes wide with shock and my mouth open with a huge smile. Hiei even gave me an odd look but he quickly looked away.

"What's this? Starting the party without us?"

I looked over my shoulder to see Yusuke standing there with a boombox in his hand and Kurama at his side. It took me a second to realize why he had a boombox in his hand. That's right, they wanted me to try and work on my defence and balance while music is playing. I watched as Kurama and Yusuke walked over to us. And I didn't miss the soft smile Kurama gave me before raising an eyebrow at Hiei.

"Sorry, that was my fault," I started. "You guys weren't around after I finished breakfast, so I figured I could get a head start on training. Especially with me being in danger or whatever."

Yusuke just waved it off. "I heard that Canadians were always nice, but damn, Aly-Jay, I think you take it to a whole new level." I couldn't help but giggle at that. "Anyways, lets get this show on the road." He placed the boombox not too far from us and pulled my iPod out of his pocket. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Now it's my time to say sorry. I noticed Kuwabara wasn't outside your room so I poked my head into your room to see if you were inside. Your iPod was on your desk so I just figured I could bring it with me to the clearing. I thought you would rather use your own music for your training."

I started to wave him off before he finished. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. It was a good idea."

After everything was set up, I went to my iPod to choose a song. I wanted something fast paced but with opportunities for me to go slow at the same time, that way I won't be totally predictable. When I came across the Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights soundtrack, I knew right away what song I was going to use. I chose "Do You Only Wanna Dance" by Mya, but before the music could start I pressed pause.

"Okay," I said as I turned to guys. "I'm ready."

"Alright." Kurama stepped forward. "I think I'll give Hiei a break, so I'll help you."

I nodded before turning back to my iPod. After pressing play, I waited a couple seconds to get into the rhythm. Before Kurama could make a move, I started to sway my hips a bit and sway side to side. I forced myself to maintain eye contact with Kurama but it was kind of hard. While I wanted to keep an eye on Kurama's moves, I'm also not that openly sexual so to move around like this felt kind of awkward. Thankfully, I usually let the music take control so it wasn't long before I tuned out the awkwardness of the situation and let my body do what it needs to do.

Much to my surprise, when Kurama started to attack, my body just started to do what it was suppose to. It was like it remembered all of my past training, I just couldn't figure out how to make it work. I half danced around Kurama, using turns to help me quickly change directions. But I also started to notice that when I would do hip sways to go along with the music Kurama would kind of stumble. It looks like this works as a distraction as well as a way to help my balance. He even paused when I slowly raised my hand to make a stop sign that went along with the music. I had to bite back a smile at that. This was much more of a success that I originally thought. We stopped when the song ended.

Kurama wasn't really out of breath, but I could tell he was impressed. "Well..." he started as he brushed himself off, "I'd say that worked well."

I felt my cheeks get hot over his comment. "Yeah... sorry. I wanted a song where I could go fast and slow. That song works for me and I kind of just let it take over."

"Yeah, yeah. While that's good and dandy," Genkai said as she to entered the clearing, "we need to move on." She came up to me and held her hands out, palms up. "Give me your wrists."

I hesitated a second before resting them in her palms. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" She gave me a stare that almost made me take a step back. "The only reason I'm asking is because the last time we did this, not only did it actually kind of hurt, it gave me away."

"I think it's safe to say that they already know that you're here. What we need to focus on now is getting your powers in check so you can fight them off. If they're really from demon world, the only way you'll be able to defend yourself is to use your demon powers." She placed her fingers on the inside of my bracelets. "Brace yourself."

I took a deep breath and tensed as they fell off. Everyone fell silent in anticipation and I could feel their eyes on me. It was actually quite unsettling. While the silence had this calm feeling, I couldn't help but feel like it was the calm before the storm. Just as that thought went through my mind, I began to feel my powers surge. I braced myself for the sudden pain to start in my fingers and toes. But this time it only felt like a little burning tickle at first. My fire side still tried to gain complete control but it almost felt like it didn't have as much energy as before. Maybe the first time my bracelets came off actually did help. When the burning sensation reached my chest I started to feel pain. It wasn't as bad as before, not by a long shot, but it still caused me to hold my chest and fall to my knees. My chest felt like it was overheating, causing my breathing to get difficult, and that my ribs where about to rip open.

The pain only increased causing a scream to escape my lips, no matter how hard I tried to bite it back. I tried to focus on my breathing, hoping it would help, but all I could manage was to pant. Genkai came up to me and tried to put my bracelets back on but I pushed her away. She was right, I needed to fight through this or I'll just be stuck in this same problem. If I don't start working on these powers now, I wont be able to defend myself. And I am NOT going to let some gross demon kidnap me because I'm "special". I braced myself on my hands and knees as I continued to focus on my breathing. The pain no longer increased but I could still feel the fire trying to gain control while water fought for balance. Neither refused to give in.

I saw a shadow kneel in front of me. I looked up, ready to push Genkai away again, but it was Hiei in front of me. Frowning, I tried to question him but I couldn't through the pants. My frown deepened when he pulled out the lighter again. Without a single word, he lit the lighter and held it in front of me. I slowly reached out and tried to pull the fire into my hand. Hoping it would be similar to how I control water, I focused as if it wasn't any different. Much to my surprise the fire flew into my hand with ease. I wasn't sure if the gasp I heard was mine or someone else.

Even more of a surprise was how fast my fire side seemed to take a step down. I could feel that my fire side wasn't done but it did start to feel at ease a bit. Still holding the fire in my hand, I began to stand up. Thank god, I can breath properly again, but I still had this intense burning in my chest. I tried to make a fire ball in my hand and it actually worked. I couldn't help but smile. This is good progress right? It had to be. I tried to throw it at a tree, but just like what happened to the water earlier, it simply vanished before it hit anything. I frowned in disappointment.

"That was amazing!" Yusuke said. "How did you know that would help, Hiei?"

Hiei just shrugged.

"Good," Genkai said, "now how do you feel?"

I winced at the burning sensation in my chest. "Honestly? Sore, and like my chest is on fire."

Genkai nodded. "I would think so. There's no way you can just gain control in a matter of minutes. Your fire side will continue to fight until you can push it down and demand balance. Now we need to figure out how you can gain that control." She paused for a second. "Now, I'm pretty sure it's lunch time."

After our lunch break, I continued to train, both hand-to-hand combat and to gain control over my powers. Much to my disappointment, there wasn't a lot of progress on my demon side but Genkai thought it would be best if I left the bracelets off. Apparently, I needed to live with this pain in my chest to get a better "feeling" of my fire side. That and we all figured that I'd start back at square one if I put them back on. Which actually made a lot of sense. Now if only this pain would go away.

By the time I was ready to go to bed, I wasn't actually tired, I just felt like I needed to lie down. I was on my back, reading a book while petting Mizu who rested on my chest, when I felt like someone was watching me. But it didn't make me feel uncomfortable or like I was in danger. I actually kind of felt safe. I looked out my window and only saw the nights sky so I slowly got up to open my door to peak out into the hall way. There was no one there. I figured that could only mean one thing.

I went over to my window and opened it all the way. After poking my head out to look out into the darkness I realized I couldn't see anybody. So I took a shot in the dark... no pun intended. "I know you're out there, Hiei." I called out, not to loudly. "You might as well come in." I took a step back and waited. Nothing happened. Please tell me it's actually him out there. "I can be just as stubborn as you so you might as well save us both the trouble and come inside. Plus, it's kind of creepy knowing you're out there keeping an eye on me when I can't even see you."

Much to my surprise, Hiei landed just outside my window and humphed before coming inside. Without a word he took a seat at my desk and looked out the window. As he seemed to get comfortable Mizu got up and went up to him. I tried to grab him before he could try and attack Hiei but he surprised both of us by jumping onto Hiei's lap then curled into a ball. Hiei looked down at Mizu with his eyes opened wide. I could tell that he didn't know what to do with the situation.

All I could bring myself to do was say, "Whoa. He likes you."

Hiei looked over at me before looking down at the cat. I raised an eyebrow when Hiei seemed to settle again and stare out the window. Since this is how it's going to be, I went to sit on my bed with my legs crossed, facing Hiei.

He looked over at me with a frown. "Shouldn't you be sleeping or something?"

I crossed my arms. "Shouldn't you?" I paused before giving him a real answer. "I'm not tired. Besides, this burning in my chest would make it hard for me to sleep anyways." There was another pause as Hiei looked back out the window. I took a deep breath as I tried to think of some kind of conversation. If he was going to train me on my fire side, we might as well get to know each other, right? I guess I could always start with the basics. "Hi," I started. I could see Hiei look at me through the corner of his eye. "My name is Aly-Jay Brooks, and I grew up in Vancouver, Canada. I'm eighteen years old but I often get told I have an old soul. I think of myself being a quiet type, but talk about my height and I will do or say something about it. I try not to let myself get picked around in any way because of my height. If people underestimate me, that's their problem and they'll have to deal with the consequences. I often get thought of as being weak because of my height and weight, but I refuse to let people continue to think that way about me. And... I think that's it." When I was done Hiei was plainly staring at me. I couldn't see any emotion in his eyes. "So... yeah."  
Once again there was silence. I looked around the room, trying to figure out what else to do. My eyes landed on one of my bags. Hmm... I wonder. I got up to check one of the small side pockets. Ah-hah! Bingo. I pulled out an old deck of cards that I had brought to Jessie's house once. Since I don't play cards a lot I didn't have a reason to take them out of my bag after that visit. After grabbing them, I went back to my bed and placed my pillow against the headboard. I sat against the pillow with my legs crossed so there was room for Hiei to sit across from me. "Come," I said as I patted the place in front of me.

He frowned at me. "I don't place silly games."

I let out a fake gasp. "This is no silly game. We are going to play War. The name alone should appeal to you. Plus, the faster you go the more fun it will be." I gestured towards the space in front of me. "Oh come on, Hiei! Please, just come play. If you're going to train me, we should at least get along or something. Please?" I stared at him, waiting. I think we stayed like that for five minutes before he finally gave in and got up, gently placed Mizu on the ground. "I told you I could be stubborn." He sat across from me and crossed his legs as well. I explained the game to him and dealt the cards. When we were ready to start I pointed at his forehead. "You use that eye of yours and I will hit you." I stared at him, trying to look as serious as possible. He closed his eyes for a second and I could have sworn I saw smirk.

Hiei opened his eyes again and placed his right, bandaged, hand over his deck of cards. "Lets do this."

We must have played for hours, with Mizu in his lap. I had a hard time keeping up with him at times, which caused me to let cards go flying sometimes. And each time I couldn't help but laugh. Part of the appeal of this simple game is those silly mistakes when you start to go to fast. Well Hiei never let on that he was enjoying himself, he didn't say he wanted to stop. I personally thought he was actually enjoying himself. I had to bite back a smile at that thought; I think I'm making some progress with him.

I started to yawn as I gathered up the cards to shuffle them. Hiei looked up at me than at the clock next to my bed. It was a little after one in the morning. He got up and took a step towards the window. "I should go patrol the area." Because I was actually really tired, I went over to the window to close it after I said goodnight and watch him leave. I crawled into bed and instantly fell asleep, despite the burning in my chest.

The next few days were much the same. I was either training or eating. Although, this time I was really able to improve on my water skills. Without the bracelets on, I wasn't just able to command water, I was able to summon and take control as well. It almost felt like water wanted me to take control. Fire on the other hand... nothing. Absolutely nothing... But I did feel like I was making better progress with Hiei. Every night that Hiei was watching me I would invite him in and we would either play War or just simply talk... with me doing most of the talking. Hiei even started to pet Mizu whenever he crawled into his lap.

But I think the worse part was the fact that I was actually starting to get feelings for him. Every time I thought about him, I felt like I needed to hit my palm against my forehead. Falling for the bad boy, typical. But it was true... I couldn't help but feel like his lone wolf attitude added to his appeal. And with both of us being comfortable being alone at times, I couldn't help but feel like my feelings for him were only getting stronger. Way to go, Aly-Jay. Fall for the guy you have no chance with.

Tonight, I thought I'd try something different, hopefully I could get Hiei start talking more. When I went up to my room for the night I went to my window to open it but this time, I didn't call for Hiei to come inside. This time, I'd like to see if Hiei would come inside on his own. As I waited, I shuffled the cards then placed them on my bedside table then I grabbed one of my books and began to read. I can gotten through a whole chapter before Hiei actually came in through the window.

"You shouldn't keep your window open like that. Someone could easily come inside and grab you."

I actually smiled at him. Right, because he just came inside like that as a demonstration. I sat up and made room for Hiei on my bed. We played a couple games before I started to feel restless. I felt like I had to do this. Share my deepest secret. I need to know where Hiei stood between us. I mean, I know he's comfortable with me, why else would he be willing to hang out with me at night? But is that it? If I don't try to take it a little further, to see how he feels, I know I'll regret it.

After I shuffled the cards for a new game, I decided it was a better idea to do this sooner, rather than later. I placed the cards next to my bed and sat sideways, with my feet touching the ground. I took a second to gather my courage, but Hiei must have taken it as a dismissal since he slowly got up and headed to the window. "Wait," I said. "I have something I need to say." Hiei paused and turned to face me. I patted the pace next to me so he came and took a seat.

"My fire side hasn't always been hiding in the shadows." I could feel Hiei's eyes on me. "When I was five, my mom was babysitting our neighbours daughter who was the same age as me. They were basically best friends so our neighbour trusted us. I was also really close to their daughter. I can't remember her name anymore. We'd play together every chance we got. But one day, as we were playing outside, while my mom was watering her plants, and she was suddenly becoming really rude." I paused as I thought about this memory. For some reason, I could remember it as if it were yesterday. "She wouldn't let me be the leader or anything. I always had to follow her around while she made the rules. She was starting to make me angry, really angry. And to make things worse, she would grab some of my best toys and claim them as hers. Angry and frustrated, I just reacted. I screamed at her, just screamed. The next thing I knew there were flames everywhere. Suddenly I wasn't screaming anymore, she was. My mom rushed over and took out the flames. Since she's a water demon she was able to do it quickly. The girl was rushed off to the hospital, my mom and I with her. But I didn't understand what was really happening. I didn't understand where those flames had come from. That night, when my mom tuck me into bed, she placed those bracelets on my wrists. They grew bigger as I did, so they were always a perfect fit. And my mom made me promise that I would never talk about that day again. The fear in her eyes made me scared so I did. Less than a month later, we were moving. That's when I knew that this secret was serious. I couldn't tell anyone." I paused as I thought about that girl. "God, I don't even know if she's still alive."

There was nothing but silence for what felt like forever. Finally, I looked over at Hiei to see if he had even listened, or if he was still there for that matter. My eyes came in direct contact with his. I felt frozen as he stared at me. It looked like his eyes had soften up a bit, but it was hard to tell. He looked down at our hands that were side by side, resting on the bed. The next thing I knew, he placed his on top of mine.


	9. Chapter 9

Hiei couldn't explain the feelings that went through him. While her past was nothing compared to his, the pain in her voice made him what to comfort her. But how? Another thought went through his mind. He felt like the need to comfort her should make him feel weak but somehow he felt stronger. How was that possible? Suddenly he pictured her smile from the clearing, when she flew the fire at a tree successfully. She looked so genuinely happy that it almost made him feel... warm. And the way she danced away from Kurama the first time. He had to fight the urge to glare at the way Kurama would stumble whenever she moved her hips. How did she make him feel like this?

She must have been the first person to be so open with him so quickly. Usually people just keep their distance. It almost seemed like her unusual kindness caused this weird warmth feeling inside him. It kind of felt... refreshing. He watched her as she spoke. He noticed the pain in her eyes even when her face showed no emotion. And noticed her frown whenever she paused to think of the past. When she finished talking they just sat in silence. Hiei didn't know what to say, supplying comfort definitely isn't his forte. But she seemed okay with the silence, so he just sat there; thinking.

He almost wanted to compare these feelings and this unspoken bond—a bond that has obviously been created over the past few days—to the feelings he has to Mukuro. But what he was feeling now was completely different. With Mukuro, it was a certain level of respect. Of a similar past they both share. But with Aly-Jay... there was a certain softness to it. It actually kind of reminded him on how lonely he felt. Sure he has Yusuke and the gang, but it's not the same. He had no desire to open himself up to the guys, but he kind of wanted to with Aly-Jay.

When she finally looked over at him, he couldn't bring himself to look away. He could see the full level of pain in her eyes. Knowing she couldn't control fire. Not knowing if that girl was still alive. But there was something else in her eyes now. Something questioning, wanting.

Finally, he looked down at their hands that were almost touching. Without thinking, without giving him the chance to second guess himself, he placed his hand over hers. It was so soft... and warm.

I woke up the next morning feeling calm and happy. It feels like I haven't felt like this in forever. I was ready to face the day with a smile. But I still felt that burning in my chest. In fact, now that I paid attention to it, the burning felt like it spread throughout the my whole torso.

To ignore the pain, I started to think about last night. It surprisingly worked. It didn't go much further than the whole hand touching thing. In fact, Hiei did leave pretty quickly after that. But I couldn't help but feel like it was a lot more than a simple hand touch. We crossed a line last night that I wasn't expecting and it felt amazing.

After changing I went downstairs for breakfast. I was the last one up but it didn't seem by much since it sounded like the guys were just settling down at the island. As I passed the living room, I noticed Hiei sitting in his usual spot. Knowing that he wouldn't be the type to acknowledge what happened last night, I just walked passed him and into the kitchen. But just when I was about to enter the kitchen, I couldn't fight the urge to look back. He was watching me but I just gave him a small smile before going to help myself to breakfast.

We jumped right into business after we ate. Since my hand-to-hand has improved greatly, we decided to jump right into the elemental stuff. I was stretching my shoulders as we walked towards the middle. When we got to our usual spot I turned to Hiei who was only a few feet away.

"You don't get angry very often, do you?" Hiei asked as he turned to face me.

I shook my head. "I'm not really the angry type, and I don't like living with anger. It causes this weird feeling in my chest." Mentioning that caused me to rub my still burning torso.

"That's what I thought." Hiei paused to think for a second. "I've been thinking about that fireball you threw a few days ago. You were getting frustrated because you couldn't change it, weren't you?"

I nodded.

"Hmm. Yes. I think I know a way to improve your fire demon side." He paused for a second. "You need to get angry. Anger will help you control it."

I raised an eyebrow at that. And he jut realized this now? That's when it hit me. The story I told him last night. I was angry when the fire appeared out of no where. Maybe anger is the key. "Okay," I said. "Now how do we get me angry?"

Everyone thought about it.

"Insult you?" Yusuke suggested.

I chuckled at that. "But I'd know you'd just be saying it to make me angry. It wouldn't be real."

The next thing I knew, I was on my back and a couple feet away from where I was standing. Groaning, I sat up to see Hiei in a battle stance. The fuck? Frowning at him, I started to get up. Hiei only attacked again, pushing me down to the ground.

"What the hell, Hiei?" I heard Kuwabara yell. Oh yeah, he decided to actually join us today rather than trying to chase after Yukina. I looked over at him to see Genkai hold him back. The others just stood back and watched. Thanks for the moral support guys.

Every time I tried to dodge Hiei and get up, he would only find a way to get me back on my back or hands and knees. I was really starting to feel helpless and weak and it began to irritate me. Every time I ended up on my hands and knees I couldn't help but feel useless or like I was bowing down at him. I didn't like it one bit. And whenever he pushed me down, the burning in my chest would increase. I couldn't stand this feeling. I may be small but I'm not weak.

"Stop it!" I yelled, which caused Hiei to pause. I felt this familiar burning in my right palm. Without thinking, I made a throwing gesture towards Hiei. My eyes widened with shock as I watched a fire ball hit Hiei directly in the chest.

Hiei seemed surprise as well since he made no movement to dodge. Not like he needed to. All the fireball did was cause him to take a few steps back to regain his balance. It also caused a hole in his shirt to reveal part of his chest. Don't stare. Don't stare. Don't stare.

"Way to go, Aly-Jay!" Yusuke cheered.

Grateful for the reason to look away from Hiei, I looked over at Yusuke and smiled. I finally was able to get up without Hiei beating me back down. After brushing myself off, I crossed my arms and put most of my weight on my right side so my hip was kind of popped out. I glare at Hiei as I said, "Well, it's great that we figured out how to make me angry. And I'd like to say I don't want to do that again but for some reason, I don't think that's going to happen."

Hiei tried to attack me again, but this time I was able to dodge him. And just like that, training started in full swing. I wasn't able to improve too much on my fire demon side. Hiei could make me irritated and frustrated, but it didn't get me very far. It felt like I needed to embrace my inner anger but I couldn't get to it. I didn't have this dark, lonely, past to go on. Most of my life I've felt safe and secure.

Since I didn't do a lot of stretching this morning, I decided to get some done after dinner. And since I wasn't willing to make the whole trip to the front of the compound, I decided to make do with what little room I had in my bedroom. I said goodnight to Yusuke and Kuwabara and they just have a "goodnight wave" since they were too busy watching TV. Shaking my head at them with a soft chuckle, I made my way upstairs towards my room.

The next morning, during breakfast, I began to feel a little stir crazy. While I haven't had the opportunity to feel bored—not with all this training—I did feel like I needed to get out. I needed to do something active that didn't involve training. Half way through our meal I decided to try and do something about it.

"Guys," I said to gain their attention, "could we do something today that doesn't involve training in anyway?"

Everyone looked at each other for a second before Kurama turned to me. "Was there something you have in mind?"

As I thought about it for a second, then realized that I actually didn't. "Not really... I'd just like to go out." Then I got an idea. "Actually, now that I think about it, I'd like to go swimming or something. I can see the days are getting shorter, I want to enjoy summer while it's still around. But I didn't bring a swimsuit. So do you think we could go to town so I can get one?"

"Sure," Yusuke said, "we can go right after breakfast. I'll even let Keiko know. Maybe we can meet up with her."

I nodded. "Great!" I could use an oestrogen fix.

We quickly finished our breakfast then got ready to head out. Since we were actually going into town, I wanted to change into something more suitable. Sweats and a tank just didn't seem appropriate. Because the weather was nice, I changed into some white loose fitting shortish shorts and a light blue V-neck shirt. To finish it all off, I put on my light grey cardigan and my pair of toms from one of my bags. Not having to wear my work out clothes was actually kind of refreshing.

On our way to the steps that left the compound, we bumped into Yukina.

"Hey, Yukina," Kuwabara said with a huge grin on his face. "We're going to town for a bit, did you want to come?"

"Oh?" Yukina said.

I took a step towards her. "Yeah, plus we plan on going swimming later. Did you want to join us?"

A small smile grew on her face. "That sounds like fun. But unfortunately, I don't have a swim suit."

"That's fine," I said before Kuwabara had the chance. "I don't either, that's the main reason why we're going to town. Come on, it will be fun. Keiko is meeting us there too."

"Alright," Yukina said, her smile growing.

It didn't take us too long to meet up with Keiko at a shop that she recommend. Since Keiko already had a swimsuit, she just helped Yukina and I pick something out. The guys went off to do something else since shopping wasn't really their 'scene.' It didn't take us too long to find something that we liked. While I couldn't sway Yukina away from a one piece, I did find a nice one that worked well with her figure. I probably would have gone for a one piece to if Jessie hadn't practically beaten me up one summer because I was too self conscious over my body. Because of her, I'm a strong believer in showing off your assets whenever you can while you've got them. In a tasteful manner of course. When I came out in a deep, fiery, red halter top with a matching side strings bottom, Keiko blushed softly.

"Whoa," she said. "You look amazing. I wish I could pull something like that off."

I huffed and waved my hand. "You're joking right? You could totally pull something like this off. You'd look amazing. Plus, I'm sure it would drive Yusuke crazy." I winked at her for good measure.

Keiko only blushed even more and changed the subject. Once we were done purchasing our items, we went outside to see the guys waiting there with ice cream. Convenient to, because the moment I took a step outside I noticed it had gotten a lot hotter.

"Here," Kurama said, handing me a vanilla ice cream cone. "We weren't sure what you would like so I figured plain and simple would be a good guess."

"Thank you," I said, taking it from him. "Vanilla is actually my favourite." I tilted my head to try and lick away the melting ice cream.

"Here," Yukina said, with a little giggle. She reached out towards my ice cream, and without touching it, she refroze it.

"That was amazing," I said, a little excited. "Thank you."

Since we had finished what we set out to do and it was still rather early, we took our time heading back to Genkai's compound. As we windowed shopped, I was able to catch up with Keiko. We haven't talked since we graduated high school, and while there wasn't anything new going on with her, I told her all about my training. I hadn't realized how much I wanted to talk about all this until I started talking to Keiko. It helped a lot that she knew all about Demon World and everything.

By the time we made it back to the compound it was time for lunch. Keiko and Yukina helped to teach me how to cook while the guys watched TV. I'm good at making typical breakfast meals, but utterly hopeless when it came to making lunch and dinner. Both of them were excellent teachers and I caught on quickly. When lunch was ready I went to go tell the guys to come eat. As I poked my head out of the kitchen I noticed Hiei sitting at the window seat. I tried to get Hiei to come eat with us, but he refused. So instead, I went to go make a plate for him.

As I set it at his feet, I looked over at him to see him staring at me. "Here," I said. "You might not want to eat with us, but you should still eat."

Hiei actually nodded before taking the plate. Unsure of how to react to that, I just turned and went to eat with the others. When we were all done eating, I gathered all the plates while Keiko and Yukina did the washing and drying. I invited the girls to come upstairs so we could all change into our swimsuits. After getting help with tying my top, I changed into a loose summer dress that I had gotten at the store. All ready and set to go, the girls and I got downstairs to see the guys waiting.

We all started to get going, but as we reached the door I noticed Hiei wasn't coming. I paused at the door. "Come on, Hiei, you should come."

"No," was his only answer.

"Come on," I insisted. "I'd really like it if you came. And I wont accept that no as your answer." As if to prove a point, I crossed my arms and leaned against the door frame, waiting.

Hiei glared over at me, and I returned it with a playful one of my own. Without a word, he got up and joined us.

"Oh," Kurama said with a small smile. "So you've decided to come, Hiei"

"Shut up, Kurama."

I was a little surprised by how long it took us to get to the beach but grateful as well. By the time we got there I knew I didn't have to worry about getting cramps when swimming. At first most of us just walked along the beach. Yusuke and Keiko walked off ahead of us while I walked along the water with Yukina.

It was nice talking to her. She was a really sweet girl, kind of naive at times, but sweet nonetheless. Plus, it was nice that I didn't have to look up at her while we talked. As we turned to start walking back to Kurama and Hiei—both of them decided to stay behind and relax at this large log—Yukina and I took off our shoes and walked in the water, letting the waves hit our ankles.

"Is the water nice?" Kurama asked when we got within earshot

"Mhmm," Yukina and I said at the same time. Both of us stared at each other for second before we laughed softly.

"You should join us," I added.

Kurama waved me off gently. "No thanks. I'm not much of a water baby."

I shrugged before turning to Yukina. "You ready to go swimming?"

She nodded with a smile. Both of us took off whatever we needed before started to walk towards the water.

Before we got too far away, I turned around to face the guys. I didn't miss the fact that Hiei was staring, but he quickly looked away. Trying to ignore that kind of attention from him, I looked over at Kurama. "Are you sure you don't want to join us?"

Kurama barely batted an eye. "Yes, I'm sure."

Without another word, I turned back around and ran into the water. I loved the way water made me feel. It was so relaxing. Although, I could never tell if it was because of my water demon side or if it's just a natural love for it.

Yukina and I just played around at first, splashing each other and stuff. It wasn't long before Keiko decided to join us as well. While playing around was good and everything, I couldn't help but feel like I actually wanted to go swimming. So while the others were distracted, I drove down under the waves and swam off, deeper into the ocean. When I finally came up for air, I noticed I was already a few miles away from the others. Whoa! Could I really hold my breath for that long?

I could see and hear the others clearly. I thought it was a little weird at first but just assumed it was because of the demon in me. Yukina and and Keiko paused in their playing when they noticed I was around. When they finally spotted me, I waved to show that I was okay. They seemed okay with it, but I noticed Kurama and Hiei got up from their spot on the log, and kept their eyes on me. Talk about paranoid.

My thoughts barely finished before I felt something wrap around my ankle. I didn't have time to react before I was pulled under. Not willing to go without a fight, I kicked my ankles hoping it would shake him off. I tried to look down to get some kind of glimpse at whoever had a grip on me. Unfortunately, the water was so dark that I couldn't see much farther than the human looking hand that held my ankle. I felt his hand slip so I gave a hard kick. Thankfully that worked so I began to swim up to get some air. Luck wasn't on my side, however, since I only had enough time to gasp for air before being pulled back down.

Since my struggles weren't working, I decided that I should try to use the water. I was in an ocean after all. Not sure if I wanted to attack right away, I decided to make a whirlpool around my ankle, forcing him to let go and go deeper down into the darkness. Wanting to get away as soon as I could, I reversed the whirlpool and made it big enough for me to stand on as it lifted me out of the ocean.

At that point I could hear Yusuke tell the girls to get out of the water. Seconds later, the demon, creature... thing, burst out of the water. It looked like he hovered in the air for a second before rushing at me. Caught off guard, I lost my balance and got blown back. I adjusted my body so I flipped backwards. Before I landed, I pointed my toes and straightened my whole body so when I reached the water, I just drove straight down. When I felt I was deep enough, I catapulted forward, so when I came back out I was behind this guy.

My plan actually worked. I was a little surprised to see that I had actually caught him off guard. Commanding the water around me, I used it to wrap him up making him unable to move. Standing on the reversed whirlpool, I used the water to bring him forward. I could hear the guys trying to make their way towards me, but since I was so deep into the ocean it was a slow process.

When he was finally close enough, I asked, "Who are you?"

The guy actually whimpered and tried to get away. "I'm sorry. I... I didn't think you had control. I figured... I-I-I figured I'd give it a shot. You're much more powerful than I thought. I'm s-s-s-sorry, I didn't mean to o-o-o-offed you. P-p-p-please let me go."

Realizing that he was actually just a coward—hoping that the element of surprise would make him able to capture me—I decided to let him go. I forced him back a little before moving me hands in a position as if I was holding him. Using the water to my advantage, I made a motion as if I threw him over my shoulder. At the same time, he got thrown into the horizon.

Proud of my first—kind of—victory, I turned towards the guys with a huge grin on my face. They continued to make their way towards me, this time Kurama and Hiei successfully bouncing over the water. As they got closer I began to feel this weird, burning in my chest. Knowing it wasn't a good sign, I threw both my hands forward in a way to tell them to stop. I barely got the word out before I felt fire explode around me.

As I felt my fire side explode with power, I saw Hiei and Kurama get blown back. I tried to gain control over it, but I could tell it wanted release after I only used water to fight off that demon. It was angry and demanded dominance. I heard myself scream from the pain of it. It was so intense that I almost felt numb from it. Kurama yelled at Hiei to try and contain the fire. I heard Hiei grunt from the effort. Blinded from the pain, I couldn't see what was happening around me.

It almost felt like the fire was trying to prove a point. That it wanted to show water that it was powerful and can't be tied down. Once fire seemed satisfied, it suddenly went away leaving me to fall back into the water. My brain yelled at me to try and swim up to the surface, but my body didn't listen. I didn't feel like I had any control over my body. So I started to sink. Pain pounded in my head and when I opened my eyes I saw blood mixing with the ocean's water. Where is it coming from?

I vaguely remember someone grabbing me and pulling me to the surface. Warm, strong, arms wrapped around me when I was finally able to gasp for air. I felt something drip down from my nose. Slowly, I forced my hand up and wiped at my nose. Pulling my hand back, I saw that it was blood. I got a nose bleed? Weird...

"It's going to be okay, Aly-Jay. Just breathe." Was that Hiei? His voice was so quiet...

Forcing myself to keep my eyes open, I looked up to see Hiei bounce across the water. He was running as fast as he could making my hair fly around me. I assumed it was so he could stay over the water rather than just sinking down. I felt him gently place me down on the sand while the others rushed to check up on me. Everything began to go black even as I tried to fight it. I don't want to be a fainter. Please don't be a fainter... The last thing I remember is feeling Hiei's warm cloak being placed around me.


	10. Chapter 10

I woke up the next morning with the most killer headache. Plus, I was super hungry. Since my hunger was more important that my headache, I sat up. Not a good idea, I fell back down with a groan. I placed the heels of my hands against my forehead to try and get rid of the stabbing pain in my head. Thankfully it was night out and my lights here off. I sighed before looking down at myself. My blanket had fallen down to my waist when I sat up, so I was able to see that I was still in my swimsuit. It's nice to know that the guys were gentlemanly enough to not try and change me into some fresh clothes.

Seriously in need of food, I shut my eyes tightly before trying to sit up again. My muscles weren't sore so I was able to make it to my dresser to change into shorts and a shirt. When I opened my door to go downstairs, I noticed Yusuke sitting against the wall across from my door. It looked like he was deep in thought before he noticed me standing in my doorway.

When he finally saw me, he stood up. "Hey, you're up. How are you feeling?"  
I shrugged slightly. "Okay, besides this killing headache."

"I'm sure we have some painkillers somewhere. Let's go."

Yusuke started to head towards the kitchen, so I followed. When we finally got there, I noticed that all the guys were still up and talking. I guess they couldn't sleep. Hiei quickly looked me up and down as if to make sure I was okay before quickly looking away. Kurama stood up when he saw me.

"How are you feeling?" Kurama asked.  
"Surprisingly well," I said as I started to rub my temples. "But I do have the worst of headaches."

"Here." Kurama went to go and get me some pills while Yusuke took a seat at the table.  
He handed me two pills and a small glass of water, which I practically yanked out of his hands. "Thanks," I muttered as I quickly took them. As I put my glass away, Kurama went to the fridge and pulled out a plate of food. Must have been left overs from dinner. He handed it to me as I muttered another thanks then I went to go sit next to Yusuke. "It's a little late for you to be up, isn't it?"  
Yusuke let out a small, half, laugh. "It's ten o'clock."

"Oh," I said, feeling kind of stupid. Way to assume that it's two in the morning just because it's dark outside. "Well, then."

Kurama smiled softly. "So you're alright?"  
"Yeah," I said as I rolled my shoulders. "I don't hurt or anything. I just have a headache."  
"Hmm, I wonder what that means."  
I frowned at Kurama. "What do you mean by that?"  
"What's the last thing you remember?"  
"Being placed on the sand, I think." I tried my best not to look over at Hiei. "I got a nosebleed." I quickly wiped my nose and looked at my hand. There was nothing there.  
"I have a guess as to why that might be," Kurama said as he took a seat across from me. "You had gotten a pretty bad nosebleed right after you collapsed from your fire demon," he paused as if to trying to find a good word, "explosion." I nodded for him to continue. "If I were to take a guess as to why that happened, Aly-Jay, it almost looked like your body isn't ready to handle your powers."

There was a pause before I heard myself say, "What?" I didn't see how that could make sense.

"I think this is becoming more than just a matter of gaining control of your fire side. Your body can't handle this power because you're simply not strong enough yet. Until you can unleash you inner anger, I don't think you're going to get very far."

I had to let that sink in for a second. "So you're saying... I'm screwed."

"I wouldn't go that far," Kurama said, as if to try and offer me some comfort. "I just think that the situation has changed a little. It's just a little more serious than what we thought in terms of the effects it has on you. Your fire side is doing much more than just absorbing all your energy. The need for you to control your powers has gotten a little more important."

"A little?" I said. I tried to push down my frustration. "You're sugar coating isn't working, Kurama." He looked away as if a little embarrassed. "No offense or anything." Yeah, Aly-Jay, I'm sure that would make him feel better...

It looked like Kurama wanted to say something else, but I held my hands up to stop him. "You know what? It's fine. It only means I need to work harder, and I'll do my best. As for right now, I think I need to lie down for a bit."

While I knew this wasn't something I should be brushing off, it was a bit to take in. I needed to think about it for a bit. Or better yet, not think about it. Here I thought that this was going to be a little adventure to Genkai's place, spend a couple months figuring out how to control my powers. And then after all that, I would be able to go back home and spend the rest of my life with my friends, trying to be normal. This whole thing was a lot bigger than I was expecting...

I got up and started to head back up to my room. I didn't miss the fact that Yusuke had gotten up to follow me up. As I opened my door, Yusuke got settled on the floor.

He caught me staring at him. "Don't mind me, it's like I'm not even here."

"You know," I started as I crossed my arms, "I thought I'd be okay with this whole 'protecting me' thing, but knowing that you're literally just outside my room makes me feel a little awkward."

Yusuke just brushed me off. "You don't have anything to worry about. I don't plan on going in there unless I hear some kind of struggle." I frowned at that, not finding that to be anymore comforting. He tried a different approach. "Besides, after all my years of skipping classes, I've gotten used to sitting around, doing nothing."  
There was a slight pause as we looked at each other. "You know what?" I said, turning to head into my room. "I'm just going to... go... inside." With that, I went inside and closed the door behind me.

I wasn't sure if Hiei planned on hanging out with me tonight, so I decided to stretch for a little bit to make sure that my muscles weren't too tense for tomorrow. I was close to finishing when I heard my window open. Surprised, and a little scared, I quickly faced my window and prepared myself for an attack. It was only Hiei. And he was letting himself in... I tried not to smile so I raised an eyebrow instead. Both eyebrows came up when I saw Mizu come in right after Hiei.

"You really shouldn't leave this window open like that," Hiei said as he jumped down.

I got up and dusted myself off. "But I have you to keep me safe," I said jokingly. He narrowed his eyes at me so I just gave him a huge, exaggerated, grin.

We started the night off by playing cards, but I started to get a little restless. Sure Hiei touched my hand but did that mean anything? Hoping conversation would help moves things along, I started to ask him about his experience at the Dark Tournament. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and Kurama would tell me stories during our meals—which often lead to teasing Kuwabara and fits of laughter—but I never heard anything from Hiei's point of view. Or on what he was thinking during his fights. He was surprisingly rather open towards his stories. Talking about his strategy, what he thought of the other fighters, he even poked a little at Kuwabara; the poor guy. We played as I listened to him. But when he started to talk about his fight with Bui, I barely realized I had stopped playing and had even moved closer to him. I was completely focused on ever word.

All I could do was shake my head when he was finished. "That's... intense," I said. "I couldn't imagine going after people like that... Even to be able to come up with a strategy or something. It's... intense."

He simply shrugged. Both of us reached out to the deck of cards sitting between us. Our hands touched, causing us both to freeze. I looked up at him while he looked down at our hands. As I watched him, I could tell that he was deep in thought. This was my chance, should I do it? If I don't, will I get another opportunity? Neither of us pulled our hand away so I decided to take it a little further. Hiei didn't seem like the type to make the first move, ever, so I figured I might as well give it a shot.

I slowly moved my hand forward so I was touching him even more. He continued to stare at our hands but showed no sign of pulling away. I took that as a good sign so I linked my fingers through his. It was refreshing to not have my hand be over powered by someone else. I looked down at our linked hands. Our fingers fit together perfectly. His hands were rough from battle and hard work, but they were also warm and strong. It made me feel protected some how. I realized we must have stayed like that for a couple minutes. I looked back up at Hiei to see him staring at me. He looked back down at our hands before slowly rising them so even our palms were touching. With our hands raised between us I couldn't help but think of Disney's _Tarzan._ Not wanting to ruin the moment, I forced down a giggle.

Hiei closed his eyes before I felt him squeeze gently. I let out a long breath; I hadn't even realized I was holding it. Nervous and encouraged at the same time, I decided to take it even further. I took a deep breath before moving forward, making sure to not move our hands. When my cheek came in contact with his chest, I felt him tense. Again, he made to sign of moving. I started to press myself closer to him, then I felt him move. Worried that I had taken things too far, I froze and felt my body tense. He surprised me by uncrossing his legs so I could fit between them. My nerves finally started to go away, so I moved to the point where most of my side was against his chest. I could tell that he was still tense and unsure. Holding my breath, I gently started to push him so he was leaning against the wall.

We stayed like that for a while, both of us tense and nervous. Then I felt Hiei placed his free hand on my shoulder. I waited for him to finally push me away but he just rested it there as if making an attempt to hold me. While I couldn't hear any kind of heartbeat, I found myself relaxing to the gentle rise and fall from his breathing. I hadn't realized just how tense Hiei was himself until I felt him relax soon after. Giddy and tired at the same time, I bent my knees upwards so I was curled into a little ball between Hiei's legs. I looked down at our hands—which were still linked—when I began to feel his thumb gently rub my hand. He really surprised me by doing that, but I soon found it to be relaxing.

Curious as to what he might do next, I pretended to fall asleep. At first it felt like he was waiting for something. But he just continued to move this thumb back and forth and have his other hand on my shoulder. Just when I was beginning to actually fall asleep, I felt him tilt his head to the side. I focused on keeping my breathing even and my face relaxed as Hiei double checked that I was sleeping. I waited to see if he would either do something else or decide to leave. The hand on my shoulder twitched before he lifted it, then I felt his fingers run through my hair; which I had put up into a pony tail. It felt shockingly gentle. It wasn't long until I fell asleep, to the feeling of Hiei's fingers in my hair.

I woke the next morning alone. I wasn't surprised but I was a little shocked to see that I was under the covers, tucked into bed. That caused me to flop my head back onto my pillow with the hugest grin on my face. Maybe Hiei really did like me. I quickly dressed and went downstairs to eat.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were sitting in the living room. Confused, I sat on one of the couch's arms and noticed they were watching some kind of action movie. I got bored rather quickly so I turned to Yusuke and asked, "Is there no training today?"

"Nah," Yusuke said, waving me off. "We can all see that you've been working really hard and improved a lot. Besides, you slept in a little late. You deserve a break."

"Alright," I said, getting up. I couldn't help but feel like it was a lot more than that. Did they think I should rest after what happened? Was I too weak to get back into training so quickly? I forced myself to push down the annoyance.

I had a quick breakfast then decided that I wanted to spend my morning being lazy. If I wasn't in bed reading, I was playing around with my water demon side, testing out some small techniques. But the more I worked on it, the more intense the burning in my chest became. I had to give up on that and go back to reading.

After lunch I decided to practice my dancing. I was on my way to my usual dancing room when I bumped into Yukina. As I waved my hand to say hello I realized I haven't talk to her at all since I passed out in front of her. I hope she isn't worried.  
"Hello, Aly-Jay," she said with a soft smile. "You look well. I was so worried about you the other day."

Well damn... I waved her off. "Yeah, I'm fine. I don't even have a scratch."

I was just about to suggest hanging out sometime when she noticed the pointe shoes in my hand. "Oh," she said, "do you dance?"  
"Mhmm," I replied with a little smile. "Since I was three."

"I've always wanted to learn how to dance."

Perfect! "I can teach you if you like. Give you a few pointers or something."

"That would be great!" She started to walk with me. "Can you show me some kind of dance?"

"Of course," I said, as I opened the door to let Yukina go in first. I looked around the room and thought of a good dance to show her. "Would you happen to have a fan?"

"Yes. Should I go get it?"

"If you don't mind," I said as I sat down to put my shoes on. "I need to warm up anyways."

By the time Yukina came back, I was ready to go. I even had the music ready. She handed me the fan, which I thanked her for, and went to go sit against the large mirror. The fan was perfect for my Kitri variation from Don Quixote. When I had finished, Yukina got up and clapped gently.

"That was amazing," she said sweetly. "You're really good."

"Thank you," I said. I could see a little bit of envy flash through her eyes so I held my hand to her. "Come. It's your turn now."

"Oh no. I can't." I would have believed her if she didn't let me pull her to the centre of the room so easily. "I've never danced before."

"So we'll start with the basics." I went over to my iPod and made sure that only fun, fast paced, songs played.

I started off with getting her to simply step side to side. She got it rather quickly but I could tell that she was kind of embarrassed. Time to break out the big guns. I took a step away from her and started to dance around the room, coming up with weird, awkward, moves. Yukina laughed at me softly, which reminded me of being back home. My friends would always laugh at me when ever I started to dance randomly like this. Jessie was always baffled on how I, a ballerina, could look like I didn't know how to dance at all.

Half way through a turn I saw Yukina just standing there, watching me. "No!" I said with a giggle as I danced over to her. "You have to dance with me. Feel the music. Dance like no one is watching!"

Both of us were laughing when I grabbed her hands and twirled her around. We danced none stop for an hour, so it wasn't long until we had flopped down to the ground, out of breath. It didn't help that we didn't stop laughing either. Yukina and I bonded so well and it was refreshing. I needed some girl time.

"So," I started as I tried to catch my breath, "what brought you to Human World? You're a demon, right?"

She nodded. "An ice apparition. I first came here looking for my twin brother."

"You have a brother?"

"Mhmm. I had met Kuwabara, Yusuke, and Hiei previously and I had hoped they might be able to help. Unfortunately, I didn't have much luck. But when Hiei left for Demon World I had hoped he might have a better chance at finding him, with his Jagan eye and all."

We were silent for a few seconds as I gathered the courage to ask, "But he never found him."

"That's what he told me, but I think I already know who it is."

"Oh?" My curiousity raised.

"But I don't think he wants me to know, otherwise he would have told me already. It wouldn't feel right to take his secret away from him."

I turned my head towards her. "You're a really sweet person, Yukina."

She looked at me and smiled, then she looked down at herself. "I should go change. Dancing can be a real work out."

"Oh yeah," I said with a giggle. I sat up to start taking off my pointe shoes. "I should shower before dinner anyways."

There was still a lot of time left before dinner when I got out of the shower so I decided to take my time getting dressed. I made the effort of blow drying my hair, and given the length, that alone took half an hour. Since I took the time with my hair, I left it down and loose.

After dinner, I watched a bit of television with the guys before going upstairs to read before bed. Hiei didn't come up to my room right away, which didn't surprise me. I think he was waiting for the others to go to bed, and for whoever was on guard duty to settle outside my room. My window started to open and when I looked, Hiei was coming inside. I put my book aside and sat up.

He looked at the book. "You read a lot, don't you?" I raised an eyebrow as he went to go pick it up. He frowned at the title.

"I love reading. It's a good escape from reality. It's in English by the way."

"English?"

I nodded. "It's my first language."

"What book is it?" His questions shocked me. Hiei has never talked to me so openly like this, I like it.

"It's called Gods Behaving Badly, by Marie Phillips. It kind of has to do with Greek mythology. I like to study it as much as I can." I saw a weird look in his eyes. It almost looked like he was curious. "I can read some of it to you, if you like. You just might not understand any of it."

I waited to see what he would do. It looks like me making the first moves was working. After a few seconds, Hiei looked over to the side wall, avoiding eye contact, before holding out the book to me. Smiling, I grabbed it before crawling to the other side of the bed. I motioned for Hiei to sit where I just was. Before he had the chance to cross his legs, I crawled back to sit between them. I felt him tense but he relaxed when I got comfortable and ready to read. With the book up, in front of my face, I allowed myself to grin.

When I finished the first paragraph I asked Hiei if he understood what I was reading. He shook his head but wanted me to continue anyways. I wasn't sure if I should be shocked, confused, excited, or down right happy that he seemed to be opening up to me. All of that turned to happiness when I felt Hiei start to play with my hair. At first I could barely feel it, it was like a soft tickle at my neck. I snuggled a bit closer to him, hoping it would encourage him to be more open with it. He did. While he didn't completely run his fingers through my hair, he did grab a lock of it and twist it around his fingers. From the corner of my eye, it looked like he was testing it's softness.

We spent most of the night like this. The last thing I could remember was feeling the book start to fall out of my hands as I started to fall asleep, mid-sentence. I could have also felt Hiei grab the book before it fell and put it next to the bed before adjusting me so I was laying on my back. He gently placed my blanket over me and tucked me in. His fingers paused, holding the ends of the blanket, before gently running them over my forehead.

I woke up the next morning alone... again... but this time I felt warm when I woke up. Well, I usually wake up warm but this was different. It was like someone slept with me. I turned my head to the side, so I was looking at the wall. And that's when I could smell Hiei's scent on my pillow. Did he lay with me after I fell asleep?

This morning Hiei was up with the others in the kitchen. While he wasn't eating anything, he did have a cup of coffee in front of him. After grabbing a bowl of cereal and my own cup of coffee, I took a seat next to Yusuke. Conversation seemed to be at a minimal until Yusuke pointed at Hiei with one hand, and placed his index finger and thumb from his other hand against his chin in a thinking manner.

"You've been here for at least a couple months, right?" he asked.

"Yeah," Hiei said, narrowing his eyes at Yusuke. "Your point?"

"Well, I'm sure Mukuro is missing you right about now," Yusuke continued with a teasing laugh.

I looked over at Yusuke with a confused frown. Mukuro? Who's that? Why did that name sound familiar? When I looked over at Hiei, he still had his eyes narrowed at Yusuke, but he looked tense. I took a sip of my coffee, waiting to see where this was going.

"Mukuro?" Kuwabara asked. He thought it over for a couple second. "Oh right!" He laughed and pointed at Hiei as well. "Hiei's girlfriend from Demon World! Yusuke told me all about your little romance during the Demon World Tournament."

Both of the guys laughed. I, on the other hand, choked on my coffee.

Yusuke pat me on the back. "Jeez, Aly-Jay, you dying over here?" He chuckled at me.

Trying to hide my emotions, I joked with him as well. "Yeah, I think so." I patted my chest a little. "Phew, sorry. It just went down the wrong tube."

"I hate it when that happens," Kuwabara muttered.

"And you would know, wouldn't you, Kuwabara?" I said, trying to keep my mind off Hiei.  
Yusuke laughed at that but Kuwabara tried to steer the conversation away from himself.  
"Now that I think about it, Hiei," Kuwabara started. "Yusuke stayed in Raizen's territory, and Kurama was in Yomi's, where did you stay, Hiei?" He paused to laugh. "Hiei has a girlfriend. Priceless!"

"I'd stop if I were you, Kuwabara," Hiei said, completely tense.

I couldn't take it anymore. My chest started to hurt and I knew it had nothing to do with the regular burning. Avoiding all eye contact, especially from Hiei, I grabbed my half eaten cereal and coffee to put it away. I could feel Hiei's eyes on me the whole time. Needing to be alone, I started to head up to my room.

Hiei? Involved with someone else?


	11. Chapter 11

I spent most of my morning in my room. I knew it was cowardly of me to be hiding, but I couldn't help but sulk over the fact that Hiei might be involved with someone else. Shouldn't he have told me? Or shouldn't I have brought something up before I started to make moves on him. Is he even involved with this Mukuro person, or were Yusuke and Kuwabara just joking around? I had assumed he was single since he had this "lone wolf" attitude. Well, you know what they say, 'assuming makes an ass out of you and me.'

Finally, when noon hit, I decided I had to figure this out. I didn't have to courage to confront Hiei over this, so I went looking for Kurama. I tried his room at first, but he wasn't there, so I went downstairs to see if he was still in the house. He was sitting on the lazy boy, talking on his cellphone. It sounded like he was talking to his mom, so I went into the kitchen and started to make lunch.

When he was done, he came into the kitchen. "Do you want some help?"

"Sure. Thanks," I said with a smile. He was beginning to catch on that I'm not the greatest cook. "Where are the guys?" I asked, to get conversation rolling.

"I think they went to town. Yusuke went to see Keiko, and Kuwabara went to see his sister."

"But you stayed?" I was a little surprised to see how much time Kurama has spent here.

"Yes."

He said nothing more on the topic. Okay... Trying to keep my voice level, I brought up the whole reason why I wanted to see him. "So... this Mukuro person that Yusuke brought up this morning. I couldn't help but feel like the name was familiar but I couldn't quite place it."

"Ah, yes. She was once one of The Three Kings that ruled Demon World, along with Yomi and Raizen."

"Oh right," I said, remembering. "Yomi and Mukuro took part in the Demon World Tournament, but neither of them won." Yusuke told me a little bit about it.

"That's correct," Kurama said with a little nod as he continued to help with lunch.

Now for the main question. "Yusuke got me confused then when he mentioned Mukuro and Hiei being involved together. Hiei doesn't seem to be the relationship type."

Kurama gave me a little look before he laughed. "He isn't. At least not in the same sense that we would consider a relationship." He paused to test the food. "But there was something different between Mukuro and Hiei." I couldn't help but tense at that. "Hiei had a high amount of respect towards Mukuro but it also seemed more than that. While I can't say Hiei had actual feelings for her, I believe Mukuro had feelings for him. Although, I'm almost certain Hiei stayed with her while he was in Demon World. Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering," I said, forcing a grin. I grabbed my plate and actually sat at the table with Kurama. As I ate, I couldn't stop thinking about Hiei and Mukuro. How deep was their relationship? Was I too forceful with Hiei that he couldn't bring himself to stop? Did he even like me?! Okay, I need to relax. When both of us finished eating, we shared the work load on cleaning up. Since there didn't seem to be much of a plan, I figured Kurama might be able to help me with more training. "Kurama," I started, "would you happen to know anything about using weapons?"

"I know a few things," Kurama replied. "Why do you ask?"

"Well," I started to walk around slowly, "I've been thinking... Hand-to-hand combat is very useful but I have a feeling like it wont get me anywhere fast. So I was hoping I could get some kind of weapons training to give me a little something extra. That, and I figured I could use weapons so I don't have to use my demon side so soon when it comes to having to fight."

"That's a very good idea," Kurama said. "I'm surprised none of us thought about that sooner. Was there any weapon you had in mind?"

I thought about it for a second. "Well, there's the tessen... but I was also hoping for something else. Something that has a little more... bite to it."

Kurama nodded. "Shall we go see what Genkai has?"

When we got to Genkai's training room that had all the weapons, Kurama motioned for me to go see if anything caught my eye. As I walked along the wall, I looked at a few things, even lifted a few to test their weight. I was walking back when I found just what I was looking for. It was a long wooden staff with an iron chain at the top. There was a spiked ball at the other end of the chain. I lifted it up and found that it wasn't really heavy, but it did have a nice weight to it. With it still in my hands, I turned to Kurama with a smile.

He raised an eyebrow at me and crossed his arms. "We're going to have a lot of work to do."

I laughed at that. "What's it called?" I extended my arms to get a good look at it.

"It's called a chigiriki." He paused for a second. "Are you sure about this?"

I nodded. "It looks kind of badass. And look at me," I made a point to gesture towards my whole body, "I'm tiny, I highly doubt people would expect me to be able to use this."

He actually agreed with me. For the next few hours, Kurama helped me train. Both of us kind of agreed that I should wait a before I tackle the chigiriki, so we started with the tessen. I thought we were moving kind of slow but Kurama said that I was catching on really fast. He wasn't expecting that. Apparently I'm a "natural".

Half way through my training, I started to get a weird feeling in my chest. I had a feeling something bad was going to happen. Since I was still training with Kurama when it happened, I pushed it aside to focus. When we were walking back towards the house, I couldn't help but rub my chest. The weird feeling wasn't going away at all. I felt like I was being watched. And whoever was watching me... was waiting.

"Are you alright?" Kurama asked when he saw me rubbing my chest.

"Yeah," I lied. "It's just the burning. Sometimes I can barely feel it, sometimes it's all I can feel."

He nodded with sympathy. "You've gotten a lot better lately, so I don't think you'll need to be dealing with that for very long."

Feeling guilty for lying to Kurama, I simply nodded. As we started to walk back towards the house, I realized that I hadn't seen much of Hiei today. I actually feel like I miss him. I've gotten so used to his company that it feels weird to be without him. Even with this whole Mukuro thing. In fact, thinking about that only made me miss Hiei more. This is ridiculous, I saw him this morning, how could I miss him? Then it hit me. Was I... falling in love with him? Was this what love feels like? I can't be... this soon? I pushed the crazy thought aside.

Since there was still some time before dinner, I decided to go upstairs to change. I took one step into my room before I froze. Hiei was standing in my room, waiting. I tensed out of nervousness. Is this when I find out Hiei doesn't have feelings for me? Without a word, I began to pull out clothes from my drawers to change into it. I placed them on my table before I finally turned to Hiei.

"So," I said before I paused. "Mukuro?" There, I said it.

"I have no reason to explain anything to you." Ouch, I thought, starting to turn back to my clothes. "But..." I paused. "I find myself wanting to explain to you."

I turned back to Hiei, still kind of nervous. "What do you mean?"

He looked away before he sat on my bed. To my surprise, he gestured for me to join him. This looks like a new Hiei. I didn't know if I should find this weird or not. He didn't start talking until I sat down next to him.

"Mukuro is someone I respect. She was able to fight through her past and grow strong from it. It's something I can understand. I guess... we were drawn together. Her strength is admirable."

None of this was making me feel better. I looked over at Hiei, confused. The next thing I knew, our lips were touching. I wasn't sure who started it, and honestly, I didn't care. A second later, or maybe an hour, there was a knock on the door. Both Hiei and I pulled apart quickly, our eyes open wide. I quickly looked over at the door and when I looked back at Hiei, he was gone.

"Aly-Jay?" It was Kurama.

"Yes?" I called out, hoping I didn't sound out of breath.

"There's some dinner, if you'd like."

Oh Kurama, such a sweetheart. "Thank you. I'll be down in a minute." I quickly changed and went down to eat. But I couldn't stop thinking about Hiei. I didn't understand at all. Was he telling me that he likes me, or was he saying that he likes Mukuro? Hiei doesn't open up much, or more importantly, at all. So, with what little he said, did that mean he trusted me? Was he willing to trust me? Then I thought about him saying he admired Mukuro's strength. I've gotten stronger, for sure, but did I even compare to Mukuro? Probably not... Was strength the way of getting to Hiei? Is that what it takes?

"Are you okay, Aly-Jay?" Kurama asked. "You don't look so good."

I had to come up with a lie. "I'm fine. It's just," think Aly-Jay, think. "I'm just a little worried about this potential kidnapping thing. It's been weeks since that guy was at my window. I feel like something serious is going to happen. Not like what happened at the beach... They can't be that patient, can they?" That wasn't a total lie.

Kurama nodded. "I can see why you would think that. But you need to remember that you have all of us looking out for you. You might not realize it, but we're pretty strong." I had to laugh at that.

Yusuke and Kuwabara didn't come back until after dinner. Thankfully they had eaten before so I didn't have to feel guilty for eating most of what Kurama made. But even having their energy around didn't distract me away from my thoughts. And frankly, it was starting to get exhausting. Who would have thought that thinking would make me tired. If I was blonde, I would be worried.

When I got up to my room, I looked over at my window and debated if I should close it tonight. I still had this weird feeling, like something bad was going to happen. But if I closed it, maybe Hiei would get the wrong idea. I don't want to push him away when he seems to be opening up to me. Deciding to leave it open, I grabbed the book I started to read to Hiei and crawled into bed. Hiei didn't come to me tonight, and it made me worry. Maybe what he was telling me before was him saying goodbye... My chest hurt at the thought. And that's how I fell asleep. In pain, and in doubt.

I woke up with a start. Something was wrong. I looked around my dark room but I didn't see anything. When I looked at my clock—which read 1:08—I realized that Mizu wasn't around. That's odd, he always spends the night with me. Worried, I got up to go look out my window, hoping he was making his way inside. That's when I saw him. The same guy that was in my window last time.

He grinned at me, and I froze. I couldn't bring myself to scream. When I opened my mouth to do so, nothing came out. That only made me panic more. It wasn't until the guy started opening my window that my survival instincts kicked in. I turned around and ran for my door. Just as my hand touched the door knob something wrapped around my ankle and pulled me to the ground. Completely caught off guard, my face smashed against the floor. Pain erupted across the left side of my face.

As I got dragged across my room, I tried to grab anything I could, which wasn't much. I went for one of the legs of my bed but my fingertips only grazed it. Next came my bed side table. This time I successfully grabbed it, but it was so light that it didn't give me much resistance. But my lamp fell off and went crashing to the ground. Since I couldn't scream, maybe any kind of sound would be helpful. I could only hope that Kuwabara wasn't guarding me. But no one came running. Shit. My last hope was to break my window. At first I tried to use my hands but I was being pulled too fast. Scared out of my mind, I didn't know what else to do. Full on panic was setting it. That's when I realized I could summon water. Forming a ball in my left hand, I threw it at my window causing a loud crash.

God, I'm such an idiot! Why didn't I try fighting? I turned to face my attacker and again I froze. I know his face. He was one of those guys that came to the compound looking for Genkai. I remember because they made me feel so uncomfortable, like they were bad news. Glaring, I tried to claw at whatever I could reach. But it was no use, he would dodge every swipe I threw at him. He huffed, as if he were bored, and started to adjust the way he held me. I still struggled but he was able to tie my wrists and ankles by using some kind of energy. I tried to use my demon side but it looked like they had some kind of binding power as well. My only option was to shake and wiggle as much as I could as he threw me over his shoulder. Well fuck, what do I do now?

I tried to keep track of his movements, hoping I could realize where we were going, but he was too fast. And it felt like he was going in a zigzag path. Either to throw me off, or the gang if they decide to try and follow me. At this point all I could do was wait. I stopped struggling. This wasn't the end, I could tell, so I thought I should save my energy. But I had to keep telling myself to not give up. I can't give up.

We must have been running for hours before he started to slow down. I figured we had arrived but when I looked around, all I could see were trees. Was the place hidden or something. But he only stopped for a second to meet up with the other guy that went to Genkai's compound. They didn't exchange words of any kind, they only stopped to place a bag over my head. I guess they thought of that to...

We travelled for another couple of hours, and they ran the whole time. Just when I felt like I might actually fall asleep, they started to slow down. I forced myself to stay focused. Was there anything I could listen to that might be useful? It didn't seem very helpful. There was complete silence, absolutely nothing, but the air smelled fresh. Maybe we were in a forest, away from any kind of city. We entered some kind of building and the floor creaked so I assumed it was an old one.

Both remained silent as they carried me down a flight of stairs. After they carried me into a room, they set me down into some kind of chair that was surprisingly comfortable. They tied me to the chair before I heard them leave the room. The walls were obviously thin because I could hear every word they said when they closed the door. I tried to get free as I listened.

"You actually did it. I'm surprised."  
"What's that suppose to mean?"

"After last time, I thought you'd mess up again for sure. The fear can get to you, man."

"If anything the fear kind of motivated me. I do _not_ want to get on his bad side."

"Speaking of the big guy. Where is he?"

"He should be on his way. But I'm not sure if him being outside of that cave of his would be a good thing."

"That and he's coming to Human World."

"Oh yeah... shit."

I could hear them start to walk away. So I'm still in Human World. At least I know that much. Then I realized how little I did know. Panic started to set in again which caused me to have a hard time breathing. I couldn't catch my breath. Only now, did I realize that I hadn't thought of what they might do to me. While I can handle pain in my feet from pointe, I don't think I can handle being tortured... Will they even do that? What do they have planned for me?

It wasn't long before I heard heavy footsteps coming towards my room. I tensed, assuming it was "the big guy" since his footsteps were different from the other two. The door opened and I had to focus on my breathing. I'm going to die. This is it, I'm going to die, and the guys couldn't save me, and I didn't find out how Hiei really felt about me...

The bag over my head flew off my head and I had to blink from the sudden brightness. I was hesitant at first, but I knew I would have to look at him eventually. After taking a deep breath, I finally looked up at him. My first thought was that he was huge. My second, regrettably, was that he was attractive. He must have been over six feet tall with waving blonde hair, deep blue eyes, and bronze skin.

"So," he started. His voice was deep as well as powerful, "you're the legendary mixed demon."

"Legendary?" I heard myself say in shock.

He raised an eyebrow at me. "Well, you better be." He took a step closer to me which made my shrink into my chair. "You don't feel very powerful." With a smirk, he slowly dragged a finger from my left eye down to the side of my lip. "You shouldn't have put up a fight, you're face is too gorgeous for bruises."

I spat at him. He back handed me. Blinking back the pain, I forced myself to not cry out.

"Look what you made me do! Making me angry wont be good for either of us. I was hoping to have a little fun with you before I put you to good use." I started to pant in fear and pain, I had to look away. "No," he grabbed my face and made me look at him. I winced from the bruises. "Look at me. I want you to remember my face. I want my face to be the last you see."

I couldn't stand this. Yes, I was scared out of my mind, but I can't die being tied to a chair. I've got to do something. After I sent a him the nastiest glare I could muster, I said, "What even makes you think that I'm this so called chosen one? You even said so yourself, I'm not that powerful."

"True," he said with a grin. "Let's test that theory, shall we?"

Bracing myself for the worse, I tensed and balled my hands into fists. I kept my eyes on him as he walked to the side. He grabbed something from a table that I hadn't noticed before. When he turned around, all of my courage vanished. He toyed with this large blade as he turned back to me.

"Shall we?" he asked as he pricked his own finger. He sucked on it slowly as if to try and be sexy. I had to fight back a gag.

Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry. I felt my head shake slowly. That only made him laugh. He grabbed my right hand and yanked it towards himself. It was like my bindings weren't even there. After pulling my fingers out so my hand was flat he sliced my hand with ease. I gasped and winced from the pain but refused to do react any further. Blood seeped out of my hand and began to drip. I never thought of myself as being queasy, but seeing my own blood flow out of my hand made me question that. The big guy went back to the table to grab a bowl. He grabbed my hand again so the blood fell into it.

When he was satisfied with the amount, he let go of my hand, making it snap back to my other. Trying to maintain my breathing, I watched him go back to the table. He looked at me from over his shoulder with a grin before he placed the bowl down. I watched him light a candle then pour water from a pitcher into a smaller bowl. Frowning in confusion, I watched as he placed the candle and water on either side of the bowl. He just stood there for a couple of seconds, staring at the bowl. Once he was satisfied, he turned back to me with a huge grin on his face.

"I don't know if you know this," he said as he grabbed the bowl and candle, "but as an elemental demon, your blood is drawn to which ever element you command. And as you can see," he said placing the bowl and fire in front of me and sure enough, my blood started to ripple and push its way towards the candle. He replaced the candle and grabbed the bowl of water, the same thing happened. "Your blood is drawn to both."

Well... shit.

"So now, the question is," he continued, putting everything back on the table, "how do I take your powers?" He turned to me with a grin that said he already knew.

I frowned at him, still confused. How could he take it from me? That didn't sound possible at all. As if he understood my confusion, his grin grew until he showed all of his teeth. Fangs?!  
"Vampire?" I gasp. There can't be real... can they? If demons are really, does that mean vampires are to?

He laughed at me. "Vampire? Please! I've got a better talent. I have the ability to steal peoples demon energy, and more importantly, their 'skills'. The only catch is," he flashed his fangs, "I have to drink it out of them."  
My arms and legs began to hurt from how tense they were. When I looked down at my fists, I saw my whole body was shaking. This is it, this is how I'm going to die. I felt trapped, useless. Desperate, I began to struggle against my bindings. I struggled so hard that my wrists and ankles began to bleed.

I needed more time. It can't end like this. "Who are you?"

He smiled over at me. "Why bother with such a useless question? You're going to die, anyways." Again, he laughed at me. "Might as well start sooner rather than later. I tend to not have a lot of patience." He walked up to me. "It's a shame really," he continued as he grabbed my face, "such a gorgeous child, and to be wasted on the likes of me. Maybe we'll meet again, in another life." He forced my face forward and pressed his lips against mine, hard. My only reaction was to bite his lips. "You bitch!" he yelled, back handing me again. "I am going to enjoy this."

He pulled my hair, revealing my neck. Without hesitation, he bit me. This time I couldn't hold back the screams. I could feel every pull as he started to drink and it was painful, so painful. It burned, but it wasn't like my fire side trying to get out. It was more than that. I could feel myself weakening but it only intensified the pain. I struggled but it only made him pull harder. He pulled back for a second, as if something didn't wasn't right to him. I heard him growl in frustration before he bit back into my neck, sucking even harder.

This was it, I knew it. I was going to die. Hiei flashed through my mind. I closed my eyes, picturing his expression when I held his hand for the first time. I thought of his gentle arms holding me. I imagined his fingers playing with my hair. But it wasn't his hands in my hair. It was _his._ Not Hiei's. I felt a single tear run down my face as everything went black.


	12. Chapter 12

Hiei felt someone not far from Aly-Jay's room. It was convenient that Kurama knocked on her door, it gave him the chance to quickly leave and check it out. He didn't want to risk them coming too close to her room. While he knew some demons were aware of her location, he didn't like the idea that she could be in danger. He followed the demon energy all the way to the lake where he saw Aly-Jay play with water for the first time. The demon stood at the edge of the lake, waiting for Hiei. When Hiei finally got a better look at the other demon, he realized it was just a low class demon, no threat at all.

Curious as to why such a low class demon was around, Hiei landed a few feet in front of the stranger. Neither of them exchanged words, they just stared at each other for a few seconds. When the other demon reached into his robe, Hiei braced himself for an attack. However, the other demon just pulled out some kind of glowing orb.

"A message for you, Hiei," the demon said, throwing the orb. "From Mukuro."

Hiei tensed as the other demon disappeared. What could she want? He told her he was leaving for Human World, and it's not like he told her when he would go back. He stared down at the orb in his hands for a couple seconds. Should he listen? Then again, why shouldn't he? It's not like he's hiding anything. Still, he couldn't help but feel guilty over whatever happened with Aly-Jay. He had tried to comfort her but it didn't look like it had worked. Making up his mind, he threw the orb at the nearest tree. A shadowed image of Mukuro began to form against it.

"Hello, Hiei. I can't help but notice how long you've stayed in Human World. It hasn't been the same here without you. The others just don't compare to your company, I'm afraid. And I'll admit, I've gotten curious. Word has gone around that the mixed demon is real. Alive and well. In Human World even. I wonder if you know anything about this demon. Rumour has it, it's really powerful. I wonder what you could do with that kind of power at your fingertips. Anyways, I guess this message is me thinking it's time for you to come home now. Goodbye."

Minutes after the message ended, Hiei could only stare. Did Mukuro know that Hiei has been part of Aly-Jay's training? Or was she just assuming Hiei would meet her? Even just sending the message in the first place confused him. The emotions were pulling him in all different directions, he didn't know what to do with it. While he knew he wasn't in love with Mukuro, he didn't think it was possible for him to feel love, there was something different towards the way he thought of Aly-Jay. He couldn't explain it, and it made him frustrated.

Needing to think things over before going back to Aly-Jay, he jumped up into a tree to sit. It must have been hours before he could have sworn hearing some kind of crash in the distance. At first he ignored it, thinking it was the wind, but then he got a weird feeling in his chest. Something was wrong, and he didn't like it. By the time he made it back to the house he could hear a large commotion.

"God damn it, Kuwabara!" he heard Yusuke say from upstairs. "How could you let this happen?"

"I'm sorry. I swear, I only fell asleep for a second. And nothing has really happened in a while. Plus, it looked like Aly-Jay could handle herself after what happened at the beach..." Kuwabara's voice was quiet. He sounded super guilty. This wasn't helping Hiei's nerves. "I feel so bad, you don't even understand."

Hiei made it upstairs to see all the guys standing in the hallway. Frowning, he asked, "What's this all about?"

Kurama was the one to turn to Hiei, even he looked guilty. "It's Aly-Jay. She's gone."

"What?" Hiei yelled, forgetting to hide his emotions. Without another word, he quickly ran to her room. It was a huge mess. There was broken glass everywhere, her side table turned over, and her bed unmade. Hiei also noted that Mizu was laying on her pillow, as if trying to keep her scent around him. As the cat and Hiei made eye contact, guilt ran through Hiei as well. If he didn't stay behind to think of such petty thoughts, she wouldn't have been taken. Furious, he turned to Kuwabara and grabbed the front of his shirt and forced him down. "What happened?"

Kuwabara had the nerve to look ashamed. "I swear, I only fell asleep for a second. I didn't even realize that I had dozed off. I'm so sorry, it's all my fault."

"It's all our faults," Kurama said, placing a hand on Hiei's shoulder. "Why are you so angry anyways? I don't think I've ever seen you react this way before."

Hiei took a step back, shrugging off Kurama hand while ignoring the stare Kurama was giving and tried to think of an excuse. "We don't know who has taken her, or what they might do. They might even use her to destroy Demon World or Human World. I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to die on my own terms. Besides, she hasn't mastered her powers. What do you think they'll do to her when they find that out?" Hiei made a point to give a piercing stare at Kuwabara.

When Kuwabara looked away, Hiei looked back into Aly-Jay's room. There was a small puddle of water under her broken window. It was surprisingly comforting to see that she put up a fight. But he didn't like the other feelings that went through him as he thought of Aly-Jay's capture. There were some he couldn't even identify, and he didn't like that either. Calmer now, he turned to Kurama. "So what happened?"

"We were all sleeping at the time. I woke up to the first crash, which I'm assuming was her lamb, but it was quiet so I thought it was just my imagination. It wasn't until her window broke, shortly after, that I realized it wasn't. By the time all of us made it to her room, she was gone. I tried to run after them but whoever stole her was really fast. Judging by their tracks she was trying to fight him off," that gave Hiei very little comfort, "but at one point he paused to bind her. It must have been an excellent binding because it was smooth sailing for him. I lost the track soon after." That offered no comfort to Hiei.

They were all silent for a second. Then Yusuke said, "Where were you, Hiei? I'm surprised you were out so late."

Hiei glared over at Yusuke. "Not that it's any of your business, but I received a message from Mukuro." He pulled out the orb to prove it.

It was obvious the guys were curious about what the message was, but now wasn't the time to ask. Not wanting to waste too much time, they decided to go see Genkai. She wasn't happy to have been woken up, but when Yusuke told her about Aly-Jay she quickly dressed so they could try and come up with a plan. Yusuke's pounding at the door had woken up Yukina as well. Since Yukina was worried about Aly-Jay, she decided to help out any way she could. She started by making coffee for the guys.

"Idiots!" Genkai yelled as they settled into one of her extra rooms. "I should have known better than to have her stay with you guys."

Unable to willing take a verbal smack down from Genkai, Yusuke got all defensive. "Hey, Grand-ma, we haven't seen any sign of some kind of attack for weeks! How were we suppose to know that they would show up tonight?"

"That's probably what they planned!" Genkai yelled back. "They probably waited for our guards to go down before they decided to make a move."

Hiei tried not to tense at that. Was the she not taken sooner because Hiei has been spending the nights with her? The one time he didn't see her, she was taken. Hiei looked down at his feet at the thought. God, he's such a fool.

"Do you think they took her to Demon World?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm not sure," Kurama stated. "I almost think they would expect us to go to Demon World, since the first time the demon showed up he smelled of Demon World. But would he have been willing to make the whole trip down there? Plus, we need to consider the fact that this demon might not be the one who wants Aly-Jay in the first place."  
"But who would want to take her?" Kuwabara asked.

"Anyone who wants power, I'd imagine."

They spent the next couple hours debating if they took her to Demon World or kept her in Human World alone. The amount of possibilities where endless so none of them knew were to start. All of them had drank as least three cups of coffee before they realized that they weren't getting anywhere. And since the sun was coming up, they decided they needed to rest before they took any kind of action, whatever it may be.

But Hiei couldn't sleep. He didn't bother trying to get some rest because he knew it wouldn't work. So he went outside and tried to follow the tracks. He touched a couple broken branches from the struggle. At least she put up a fight, but he wondered why she wasn't that successful. From all the training she went threw she should have been able to draw blood or something. Maybe try to leave a trail for them to follow. Then he realized that she hasn't had any real fight before. Did she freeze, forgetting all of her training? Did she underestimate her kidnapper?

Feeling angry over the fact that he let her get stolen, defeated over feeling like he couldn't do anything, and worried over what might happen to Aly-Jay, Hiei balled his hands into fists. The bandages on his right arm began to tighten. When he looked down at it, he could see the dragon wanting to be unleashed. He frowned at his arm, unsure of what that meant. Hiei knew he needed to calm down so he turned around to follow the tracks back to her room.

He took one step before seeing Mizu standing a few feet away, staring at him. Well shit, who's going to take care of this little guy? The cat still hasn't accepted the other guys but he seemed perfectly comfortable in Hiei's lap. Hiei wasn't sure if he should pick him up and carry him back to the house but as he walked past the cat he noticed he didn't need to. Mizu followed him all the way back. Still unsure with what to do with the cat, he hesitated outside Aly-Jays room.

Finally making a decision, Hiei opened the door and saw Mizu sitting at his empty bowl. The cat looked over at him and meowed softly. Making sure no one was around, Hiei walked inside her room and closed the door behind him. Trying not to look at the mess, he went to Aly-Jay's bottom drawer where she hid the cat food. Working as fast as he could, he poured the cat food into the small cat bowl before putting the cat food back.

Well all was said and done, Hiei finally went to go get some rest. He didn't think he would be able to fall sleep but he passed out the moment his head hit the pillow. An hour passed before Hiei woke up panting. He hasn't has a nightmare in what felt like months. But this one was different. While it started the same, him getting the Jagan eye, it ended differently. He was in bed with Aly-Jay, and she was reading to him but she started to get dragged away from a shadow. No matter how hard Hiei ran, he couldn't reach her.

Knowing he wouldn't be able to get any more sleep, Hiei got up. Someone started knocking on the front door when he started to make his way down the stairs. Narrowing his eyes, Hiei went to go answer. Hiei tensed a little when he saw it was Yukina.

"Oh," she said sheepishly, "I was hoping I could talk to you for a minute. About Aly-Jay."

Hiei only opened the door so she could come in. Yukina went to go sit on the couch while Hiei sat in the lazy boy.

"I know I haven't really spent a lot of time with her," Yukina started, looking down at her hands, "but I feel like I really bonded with her the other day. She tried to help me learn to dance. Anyways," Yukina shook her head slightly, trying to get back on topic, "I haven't been able to stop thinking about her. I'm know she hasn't been able to master her powers and so I'm really worried about her. And I don't know if you've tried this already, and I hope I don't insult you if you had, but I remembered how I asked you if you could use your Jagan eye to look for my brother. So I thought, maybe you could give it a try. Maybe you could reach her somehow."

Now Hiei was torn even more. He felt like an even bigger fool for not thinking about using his eye in the first place. And now he wanted to do what he could to make Yukina happy. Caring for his sister was one thing, he always tried to do what he could, but to be worried about Aly-Jay as well... He didn't know what to do with all of this. Trying to offer what little comfort he could, he got up to walk Yukina to the door as he said, "I'll give it a try."

It was actually a good idea. After Hiei watched Yukina leave, he went outside and jumped up to the top of the tallest tree. He didn't know if the height would help, but he did enjoy the fresh air. Hiei took a deep breath before uncovering his Jagan eye. At first he tried to use his telepathy to reach Aly-Jay, but his thoughts just hit a wall. Frowning, he tried to find her location, but again, he came back with nothing. Whoever stole her had some kind of mental wall, preventing his eye from finding her. Balling his hands into fists, he tried his telepathy again but he made the message stronger.

_"Hiei?"_

Hiei almost went weak in the knees at hearing her voice. Admittedly, he wasn't expecting this to work so easily. _"Yes, where are you?" _

_ "My mind..." _

The whimper she let out made Hiei growl. Whoever took her was going to pay. He didn't know how long he could maintain connection so he had to stay focused.

_"You need to tell me where you are." _

_"Human World." _

_"Good. Now you need to tell me more. What's around you?"_

_ "I don't know... It's so dark... my mind... I can't..."_

_ "I need you to focus. Try to give me something. What do you see, smell, hear?"_

She didn't reply right away and Hiei worried that she was gone.

_"It smells musky... the windows... they're shut... covered with wood. It's so quiet... but there are birds..." _She was starting to panic. Hiei could hear her heavy breathing, even through her thoughts. But she continued, _"Forest... but sometimes hear cars... not often."_

_ "Who took you?"_

Her breathing began to increase. Again, she whimpered.

_"He's coming..."_

_ "Who took you?" _Hiei almost yelled out the question.

_"Hel-" _She was gone.

Anger pulsing through his veins, Hiei jumped down and punched the nearest tree. Nothing happened, but a second later the tree shattered. It took all of his will power not to go searching for her right away. But he knew that the only way to find her as soon as possible was to get help from the others. Hiei tried to calm himself when he found that everyone was back in the room they were in last night. Keeping his face blank, he walked inside.

"There you are," Kurama said, "I went looking for you."

Yusuke went straight to business, not giving Hiei the chance to reply. "We were just talking about you and your Jagan eye. Do you think you could-"

"I already have."

They were all quiet.

"Annnnd," Yusuke said.

"I couldn't find her exact location. They blocked that from me, but I was able to talk to her."

Yusuke jumped up. "What did she say?"

After Hiei told everyone what little information Aly-Jay gave him, they began to try and figure out where she might be. Given the amount of time that has passed since she was taken, they figured she couldn't be too far. She would still be in Japan, for sure. They also gathered that she was in an abandoned building, something hidden from view, but close to a road. Well that narrowed it down. Not.

Genkai placed a bunch of maps on the ground in front of them. She arranged the maps in way where it acted like one large map without risking the zoom that they needed. With this they were able to pin it down to ten possible locations. Being able to bring it down to both abandon and close to a road was actually helpful. Now they had to figure out where to start.

They started off with the ones closest to Genkai's compound. Since the tracks lead north, everyone thought they should head at way first then making their way eastwards. The first few places were completely empty, some were even almost impossible to get to. And every time they arrived at a location Hiei tried to contact Aly-Jay through telepathy. Every time his thoughts hit a wall. However, since they were all able to run fast they went through the buildings rather quickly. When they got to the fourth house, their hopes were beginning to lower. Kuwabara was even starting to get out of breath.

"If you can't handle this, Kuwabara, you might as well go home," Hiei said as they arrived.

"No," Kuwabara said between breathes, "I'm the reason she got kidnapped, I've got to find her. It's the least I could do."

Hiei narrowed his eyes at him before turning to the building. As he made his way forward, he caught Kurama staring at him, again. Kurama has been giving Hiei these weird looks ever since Aly-Jay was taken. Frankly, it was really starting to irritate Hiei. It make him feel like Kurama knew what was going through his mind, and more importantly, like Kurama knew more than Hiei did. Ignoring Kurama, Hiei searched the place to find it empty. That didn't help his irritation.

As they began to make to make their way to the next location, Hiei had began to get this weird feeling. This next place was it. He could feel it. Feeling a new sense of hope, Hiei began to pick up speed. He didn't slow down until they reached the edge of the woods. The others weren't far behind him.

"Guys," Kuwabara panted, "can we take a little breather or something?" He braced himself against a tree as he tried to catch his breath.

Kuwabara quickly fell silent as he noticed the others were quiet, staring at the building in front of them. As he looked over at the building as well, Kuwabara realized why no one was talking. There was something different about this place. His spiritual awareness was practically screaming at him. Something, or someone, was hiding in there. Even though he couldn't feel any energy, he just knew there was something inside. The feeling didn't sit too well with anybody.

All of them cautiously to walked forwards, all of them had their guards up. Yusuke reached for the door knob. His fingers barely touched it before a blast of energy threw them all back. It was clearly demon energy. The guys struggled to get themselves up since the energy was still raging. None of the guys felt anything like this before. They knew it was demon energy but their knowledge didn't go much further. It was weird, like a hybrid energy of some kind.

Suddenly the energy vanished. All the guys braced themselves as they heard heavy footsteps coming from inside the building. A shadow appeared in the doorway that it quickly grew into an obviously large demon. At first glace he looked like a very tall human, but the demon energy was undeniable. Much unlike the energy they felt before. That and humans didn't have fangs the way his guy did. They were hard to miss as he had this huge grin on his face.

When he finally took a step out from the door way, he opened his arms in a welcoming manner. "Ah, you've arrived. Welcome to my humble abode." All the guys tensed at that. The demon pointed at Hiei. "I was a little worried you wouldn't use your eye to try and find her."

Hiei's hands balled into fists at that. What the hell was he talking about?

"What? You think that you just got lucky by getting through to her? Where's the fun in taking her powers without a little challenge?"

Take her powers? It took all of Hiei's will power to not cut this guy's head off. If the guys weren't here he probably would have. But he needed to make sure that Aly-Jay is alright.

"Who are you?" Yusuke asked.

The demon had to nerve to act shocked. "You mean to say that you don't know who I am?"

"I'm sorry," Yusuke said, "I don't make a habit out of meeting assholes."

This time the demon crossed his arms and glared. "The name is Hiroto, and I believe I have something that belongs to you."

That odd energy came back again, but this time it didn't come in a huge blast. Another set of footsteps were heard. As it got louder, the energy got stronger. Not sure of what the guys should suspect, they could only wait and see. Finally, they could see a shadow in the doorway. The first thing Hiei noticed was the way the long hair moved in the wind. It reminded him of graceful ocean waves and the whip of flames at the same time. Then he realized that he recognized the height and shape of the figure.

Ready to defend her, Hiei braced himself to attack. But he completely froze at Aly-Jay's actions. Without hesitation, she walked right up to Hiroto and allowed him to rest his arm on her shoulder.


	13. Chapter 13

"Aly-Jay, what are you doing?" Kuwabara yelled.

She didn't respond at all, she only stared in front of her, her eyes blank. In fact, now that Hiei took a good look at her, her eyes were completely different. Her right eye was a fiery red and her left eye was a deep ocean blue. And even though there was barely any wind at all, her hair continued to move like ocean waves then flames. Was this her demon form?

"What did you do to her?" Yusuke yelled.

"Oh nothing... too special," Hiroto said, looking down at her with a smile. "But she really is a rare gem you know. I wasn't really expecting her to be that powerful, to be completely honest. You see... I have a special talent myself," he flashed his fangs at the guys again. "I have the ability to steal people's demon energy and powers. But there is really only one way for me to do that." He started to play with her hair a little, close to her neck. "I have to drink it out of them." Hiroto moved her hair to reveal bite marks on her neck.

"You bastard!" Kuwabara said his voice filled with anger.

Hiei took a step forward, ready to attack, but Kurama held him back. Fully intending to give Kurama a piece of his mind, Hiei turned his head towards him. Hiei froze when he saw the look on Kurama's face. Even Kurama couldn't hide the anger that he felt. It looks like Aly-Jay had a certain effect on all the guys.

"But you see," Hiroto continued, dragging his fingertip along the bite mark—Hiei had to fight back a snarl, "it didn't quite work with this rare gem. I almost drank her dry before I realized it was hopeless. Her powers are unique to her, and I couldn't reach them no matter how much I tried. So I had to try something else." He moved his hand down to touch a small vial that rested between her breasts. "I had to combine both our blood to gain control over her." He let out an exaggerated sigh. "Since I can't have that power for myself, then controlling it is the next best thing."

Hiroto had the nerve to pull open her shirt to place the vial under it. Hiei couldn't hold back anymore, his demon energy flared up. Lucky for him, do did Yusukes and Kuramas. Without thinking, Hiei drew his sword and started to attack. Just as his sword came up to cut off Hiroto's head, Aly-Jay appeared in front of him. Her right hand was engulfed in flames while her left hand was engulfed with what looked like blue flames. When Hiei took a good look at her left hand, the "flames" moved more like waves.

Aly-Jay was ready to attack, but when Hiei looked into her mixed eyes, he could see they were completely blank, like she wasn't really here. Anger had risen to a whole new level in Hiei. Hiroto laughed from behind her.

"You must be Hiei," Hiroto said with a grin. "You know," he started, placing a hand on Aly-Jay's shoulder, "if I drink long enough, I begin to see what they're thinking about. You know the last think that went through her mind before she passed out? It was you."

Hiei tensed and glared at Hiroto from over Aly-Jay's shoulder. He felt the other guys tense at that as well.

"Whaaa-" was Kuwabara's reaction.

Not wanting to give Hiroto an excuse to use Hiei and Aly-Jay against each other, Hiei needed to think of a way to make it look like there was nothing between them. "I don't know what you're talking about," Hiei said, lowering his sword.  
Hiroto actually laughed. "Oh, I doubt that. Her feelings were pure."

"Hah," Hiei said, "you mean to say that she thinks she has feelings for me? Please. She's weak, she can't handle her powers. Why would I associate myself with the likes of her? Do I need to remind you that she's half human as well?"  
Hiroto narrowed his eyes at Hiei, which made Hiei relax slightly. It looked like his plan worked. Trying to look as if he didn't believe Hiei, Hiroto started to pick at his nails. "I'm getting bored now."

Without warning, Aly-Jay attacked. Hiei barely had time to block himself before he went flying back towards the trees. Everyone refused to attack her so they were forced to simply defend themselves. It was hard to tell if Aly-Jay was much more powerful than Hiei thought or if it was just the fact that all of them refused to outwardly attack her.

As Aly-Jay was focused on pushing Hiei and Kurama back, Yusuke tried to take the opportunity to attack Hiroto. He looked worried for a second but then Aly-Jay turned to Yusuke and used her fire side to throw him back. Hiroto laughed at that before taking a few steps back. Without thinking, Yusuke stood up and tried to fire his spirit gun at Hiroto. Just as it would have hit him, Aly-Jay appeared and took the bullet for him.

"Shit!" Yusuke said, pulling at his hair.

"Yusuke!" Kuwabara yelled, "you can't attack, Aly-Jay! She's a girl."

"It was an acci-" Yusuke stopped mid-sentence when he saw Aly-Jay get up as if nothing happened.

"What do we do?" Kuwabara asked while Aly-Jay went to go stand in front of Hiroto.

Kurama came over to stand next to them as he said, "We need to get that necklace around her neck. He's using that to control her. If we can get it and break it, he should lose control over her."

"And how are we supposed to do that?" Yusuke asked. "In case you haven't noticed, it's a little hard to get at her." Yusuke paused for a second. "Am I the only one a little surprised by how powerful she is?"

"Yeah," Kuwabara agreed. "I'll have to remember to never make her angry."

Hiei did his best to stay quiet during this whole thing. He didn't want to show that he was worried about her safety for her sake and for everyone else.

"Well, I can't stand here and do nothing," Yusuke said. "We've got to try and get her."

Without another word, Yusuke rushed at her, with the guys' right behind him. Aly-Jay stayed where she was and only raised both her hands up. They all paused when nothing happened. Just when Kuwabara was going to say something, a mix between a wave and a fire wall pushed them all back. They all groaned from the force, which make Hiroto laugh again.

"That's my girl," Hiroto said with a smile, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"That's it," Yusuke said, frustrated. He pushed himself up and rushed at her again.

This time the guys rushed at her from all different angles. With some surprisingly good skill, she was able to twirl around and keep them all at bay. From the use of both fire and water, there was steam all around them when the guys had to stop and catch their breath. As they all doubled over to breathe, Hiei looked over at Aly-Jay and saw that she wasn't panting like the rest of the guys. Hiei didn't have time to think that over too much because that's when her nose began to bleed.

Kurama noticed it as well. "We need to get that necklace off her now!"

Using his speed to his advantage, Hiei rushed at her. With him being so close to her now, he was able to force her to use hand-to-hand combat. Not wanting to hit anything vital, Hiei focused on trying to distract her long enough to yank the necklace off her neck. The other guys used this opportunity to try and go after Hiroto.

"Aly-Jay!" Hiroto couldn't help but yell as he took another step back.

Without even blinking, Aly-Jay was able to summon a fire wall around Hiroto, shielding him away from the guys. Everyone, even Hiroto paused to stare at Aly-Jay in shock. As Hiei stared he noticed that even more blood fell from her nose. Something went through Hiei, making him stop fighting. Unable to identify the feeling, he took a step back. Aly-Jay took her chance to pushing him down. She straddled him, making him unable to move, and raised her fist to strike him. Hiei stared at her in shock, making their eyes lock. She hesitated.

"Finish him!" Hiroto's voice boomed.

Aly-Jay frowned before raising both her hands up to summon fire. Hiei was able to get himself back up but that was all he was able to do before getting hit right in the chest. Unable to dodge, he went flying back and into the forest.

Kurama took this as his chance. He summoned his rose whip and aimed for the necklace. For a second he thought it was actually going to work. Aly-Jay was able to spin and flip away, but she wasn't quite fast enough. As she flipped back, her necklace came out allowing the tip of Kurama's whip to make contact with the vial. It cracked slightly causing Aly-Jay to stumble.

They all froze for a second, watching her.

"Did you crack the vial?" asked Kuwabara.

"What are we waiting for?" Yusuke yelled.

Not waiting another second, Yusuke tried his spirit gun, aiming for her neck. Aly-Jay didn't bother to dodge. She just turned to face him and braced herself. At the last second, she used water as a shield. While it protected her overall, she wasn't completely fast enough so part of her got hit. It was so close to her neck that part of the vial cracked even more.

This time Aly-Jay almost fell over. As she gathered herself, it almost looked like part of her was coming to her senses. She slowly raised her hand to wipe under her nose. Her hands were shaking when she looked down at the blood.

"That's it," Hiei said, coming back to the team. "I'm really starting to lose my patience." He summoned his fists of the mortal flames and ran at Hiroto.

He almost made it but Aly-Jay was able to appear in front of him, forcing them back into hand-to-hand combat. But this time she copied Hiei, making her hands covered in flames and waves. Hiei refused to waste his time on her. He wanted Hiroto.

"God, damn it!" Hiei yelled. "Back the fuck off. I'm done with you!"

This time Aly-Jay froze at that, which allowed Hiei to push her back. She went flying into Hiroto making them both fall to the ground. Hiroto was able to recover quickly, but Aly-Jay struggled to get back up. She was panting when she finally stood straight. Aly-Jay looked over at Hiei, her face still blank, but this time a single tear fell down her cheek.

"Oh, for fucks sakes!" Hiroto yelled. "Finish them, you bloody woman!"

Aly-Jay shook her head for a second as if to gain control of herself before holding her hands out to her side. The guys could only watch as the wind began to pick up. Her panting began to increase as she charges her next attack.

"Is it just me, or can anyone not move?" Kuwabara asked.

"We have to stop her!" Kurama yelled. "She's powering up. She'll kill herself!"

He barely finished his sentence before there was an explosion. They barely had time to block her attack as they went flying backwards. Yusuke groaned and tried to see through the smoke and steam. All of the guys tried to get up when it finally began to clear.

"Holy shit," Kuwabara muttered.

Everything was gone. The clearing they were in must have expanded by at least a mile and the old house was completely missing. When the smoke and steam was finally gone Aly-Jay could be seen in the middle. She was lying in the middle and appeared to be out cold. Hiei began to walk towards her, hoping she's still alive. As he got closer there was a noise that came from some of the rubble. Hiei stopped and watched as Hiroto began to stand. Narrowing his eyes, Hiei readied himself to attack.

When Hiroto saw Hiei he quickly looked over at Aly-Jay. "Get up! Get up you stupid bitch!"

"No," Hiei said. "Forget her. It's just you and me."

Hiroto began to panic. "Get the fuck up!"

"Use the dragon, Hiei!" Yusuke yelled.

"No," Kurama said. "It could kill Aly-Jay."

"Do we have any other choice?"

As they continued to argue Aly-Jay started to get back up. They all went quiet as they watched her struggle. She was completely out of breath but was able to stand straight.

"You stupid bitch!" Hiroto yelled. "I said, finish them. Do it right!"

Still panting, Aly-Jay started to lift her hands again. Only this time she was obviously shaking. Hiei had to make a decision, and fast. He looked over at Aly-Jay, struggling to charge her powers again. Watching her killing herself, Hiei made a decision. Before Aly-Jay could finish, Hiei started to call on his dragon. Hiei looked over at Hiroto and saw the panic set in again, a very satisfying feeling went through him.

"Is that wise, Hiei?" Kurama asked.

There was no time to change his mind. Hiei called upon his dragon and sent it straight at Hiroto. Thankfully, it obeyed and avoided Aly-Jay completely. It must have taken a total of ten seconds for Hiroto to disappear. But it wasn't fast enough.

"Look!" Kuwabara said as he pointed at Aly-Jay.

She panting only started to get harder and faster as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, they were back to normal. Aly-Jay looked around. Panic began to set in her eyes as she saw all the damage. After making eye contact with Hiei she began to scream in pain. It was like nothing he has ever heard before. The pain and torture in her voice almost brought him to his knees.

"She's back, but she can't control it," Kurama said. "We have to do something."

But it was too late, her powers exploded again. This explosion was much smaller, however. Even before the smoke began to clear the guys rushed in her direction. Kurama used his whip to make it clear faster. The second he could see her, Kurama rushed towards her and checked for a pulse.

"She's alive. It's amazing that she's alive. We need to get her to Genkai's."

"What's wrong with her?" Kuwabara asked suddenly. "Where are these bruises coming from?"

Hiei, who could only stare at the place where Hiroto was standing, quickly turned to see that Kuwabara was right. Bruises had appeared all over her face and body. Forcing himself to stay calm, Hiei balled his hands into fists.

"Some of these are old," Kurama said after taking a good look. "It looks like that she was hit or something." Kurama looked down and gently touched her bruised wrists. "And bound."

"But why do we see them now?" Yusuke asked.

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure it has something to do with her weakened state. We have to get her to Genkai, quickly." Kurama looked over at Hiei. "You're the fastest; do you think you can take her?"

Forcing a shrug, Hiei slowly walked over to Aly-Jay and picked her up. Once he had a good grip on her, he began to run towards Genkai's compound. The sound of the guys running behind him was able to make him push down his emotions. It wasn't long before he made it the room that was usually used for healing. It couldn't have been more than a second after he placed her down when Yukina came inside.

"Aly-Jay!" she yelled before rushing forward.

While she was distracted, Hiei took his chance to slip away. He needed to hibernate after using the dragon, but he refused to pass out in front of his sister. Wanting to sleep as fast as he could so he could check up on Aly-Jay, he jumped up into the nearest tree and slept.

Yukina had just finished cleaning up the blood around her face when Genkai and the others came in. Genkai took a minute to look her over before sitting back to look over at the guys.

"Well, it obviously isn't good," she started. "Judging by how pale she is, she's lost a lot of blood."

"It looked like she only had a nose bleed," Yukina said.

"The guy that took her had the ability to suck the power out of his victims," Kurama said. "Apparently it didn't work with Aly-Jay. I can only imagine how much he took before he realized that."

Genkai could only shake her head at that. "And her body has taken a beating, both by you guys and from her demon sides."

"Do you know how long she'll be out for?" Kurama asked.

"Her body will need to recover. And given the damage, it could be a while." Genkai stood up slowly. "We should probably make her as comfortable as possible." Yukina, who had been sitting by Aly-Jay's head, got up to do just that. "There isn't much we can do now. What happened exactly?" Kurama told her. "She was able to do all that?"

"Yes. I find it to be a miracle that she was able to survive."

"Yeah, I'll have to agree. Too bad she wasn't able to master it sooner. If anything, I'm worried that there will be some brain damage."

"Do you think so?" Kurama asked, looking over at her.

"Judging by the nose bleed, it's either going to be some brain damage or at least a killer headache."

"Is there anything we can do for her now?"

"I don't think so," Genkai answered as she headed to the door. "She'll wake up when her body has healed."

Hiei found himself spending as much time as he could being close to Aly-Jay. He didn't trust himself to actually go inside, but he would sit on the nearest tree and look into the window at her. She looked so weak, so pale. He didn't like it on bit, but he couldn't tell why exactly. Either way, it frustrated him and made him think of that message from Mukuro. And from that thought, he thought of Mukuro in general. It has been a long time since he's been to Demon World.

It must have been close to a month before Hiei decided to actually see her. She has shown no sign of waking up so he wanted to take a closer look. When he entered the room Yukina looked over at him.

"Oh," she said, blushing. "Could you watch her for a second? I, uh, really need to use the washroom."

Perfect, he thought. Hiei stepped aside and closed the door after Yukina left. When he couldn't hear Yukina's footsteps anymore he walked over at Aly-Jay's sleeping form. If it weren't for her heartbeat and the rise and fall of her chest he would have thought she was dead. Hiei looked over at the door again before looking back at Aly-Jay.

She looked even weaker up close. Not sure of what to do, Hiei slowly raised his hand and reached out to her. His hand was shaking when he finally touched her forehead. Her skin was still warm and soft but she looked too pale. Hiei didn't like it one bit.

He frowned down at her. She looked too weak. She was unable to protect herself. She was against one demon and she couldn't fight him. Thoughts of Mukuro went through his mind again. Mukuro must have been the most powerful demon he knew. She was strong and able to protect herself. She was completely different compared to Aly-Jay.

The fight he had with Mukuro during the Demon World Tournament flashed through his mind as he looked down at Aly-Jay's pale form. Maybe it's time that he returned to demon world. He had to return to Demon World.

"Oh, hello, Hiei."

Hiei tensed and turned to see Kurama standing in the door way.

"What do you want, Kurama?" Hiei asked.

"I just wanted to check up on Aly-Jay. It has been three weeks since she passed out. Normally I'd start to worry at this point but I can't help but feel like she'll wake up soon. Very soon."

"I'm leaving," Hiei said before he could stop himself.

There was a pause as Kurama thought about what Hiei said. "For Demon World I'm assuming."

"Yes. I need to go see Mukuro. Talk to her."

"What if Aly-Jay wakes up while you're gone?"

"So what if she does?"

Kurama tried not to narrow his eyes at Hiei. "What am I supposed to tell her?"

Hiei did narrow his eyes at Kurama. "I have nothing to hide. Tell her the truth."

"Is there something between you two?"

"Don't be stupid, Kurama." Hiei actually glared at Kurama. "Things like that is a waste of time. I'm not going to waste my time with silly goodbyes."

Without another word, Hiei left. Kurama watched as Hiei walked away. He didn't have a good feeling about this.


	14. Chapter 14

"God, damn it!" Hiei yelled. "Back the fuck off. I'm done with you!"

I tried to brace myself as Hiei punched me in the chest. Unable to do so successfully, I went flying back and into Hiroto. I struggled to get back up while Hiroto just jumped up as if nothing happened. He backed away like the coward that he was. Hiroto said something but I didn't hear.

There was a ringing in my ear. I didn't know where it came from but I did know that I was pissed. _"I'm done with you!"_ Really? Really?! I know Hiei isn't the type to commit or anything but that was a low blow. I was not happy.

With anger running through my veins, I lifted my arms up slightly and tried to gather my energy so I could call both fire and water. I struggled to call upon water and fire so I could end them. Breathing heavily, I focused on the balancing of the elements. As I felt the charge increase I could have sworn I heard the guys yelling at me, telling me to stop. The fear in their voices helped me gather the energy. I fed off their fear. With the power running through my veins, I raised my hands up in the air before slamming my fists into the ground. Water and fire exploded all around me.

It took me a couple seconds to recover and when I finally had, I realized I was on my hands and knees. Panting, I looked around as the area began to clear from dust and debris. Drained of all energy, I struggled to stand back up. When I was finally standing straight I took a look around and surprised by what I saw.

Everything was gone. I could barely see the tree line anymore. After doing a quick three-sixty I noticed I couldn't see the guys. Although I did see Hiroto laying a few feet away from me. Judging by his appearance I could only assume that he was dead. Turning back to where the guys had stood a few seconds ago, I started to walk in that direction.

As I got closer to their general direction, I began to see the evidence of my power. When I saw Kuwabara's foot peaking out from under a piece of tree, I ran over to him. Gathering what little energy I could, I lifted the tree and threw it away from him. I was too late. I knew right away that he was gone. What have I done? I quickly looked around to see if I could find the others. They were all gone. I killed them.

Where was Hiei? I worked as fast as I could to try and find him. Please, please, please, don't tell me I killed him. It felt like eternity before I finally found him. I pulled him out from under a piece of the roof. My chest went tight as I saw him all bruised and bleeding. I placed his head on my lap and ran my fingers through his hair. As I looked down at him, I felt my cheeks go hot and wet. I quickly wiped them and found out that I was crying. What have I done? If I only didn't get angry. I killed them all...

"God, damn it!" Hiei yelled. "Back the fuck off. I'm done with you!"

I jolted and gasped. I quickly looked around to see Hiroto standing behind me and the guys standing back, close to the trees. What the hell is going on?

Hiei prepared to punch me so I did my best to block him. I flew back and landed on Hiroto. Groaning from the impact, I struggled to get back up. What was happening? Why did Hiei punch me like that? I quickly looked around to see the rest of the gang ready to attack. It was unsettling to see them looking at me like that. I opened my mouth to ask what was happening, but Hiroto cut me off.

"Oh, for fucks sakes!" Hiroto yelled. "Finish them, you bloody woman!"

I was about to give him a piece of my mind but before I had the chance I felt myself lifting my hands. A horrifying pain exploded through my head as my body tried to gain power. Gasping, I tried to my best to stop but I was powerless against it.

"She's going to kill us!" I heard Kurama yell. "Hiei, use your dragon to stop her!"

"Already on it," was Hiei's reply.

What? The dragon of the darkness flame? On me? Terrified, I tried to open my mouth to tell them no but I had no control over myself. I looked over at Hiei when I felt our energy mix in the air. All I could do was stare as he summoned his dragon. In a matter of seconds, I watched the dragon appear and head straight for me.

The last thing I could remember is seeing Hiei's satisfied grin and feeling the worse pain imaginable.

"God, damn it!" Hiei yelled. "Back the fuck off. I'm done with you!"

I quickly looked around to see that Hiroto was standing behind me and the gang standing in front of me, looking worried. What is happening? I wanted it to stop. Knowing what was going to happen, I braced myself even before Hiei got ready to push me back. I struggled to get up after falling into Hiroto. Just as I was about to scream out I heard Hiroto yell, "Oh, for fucks sakes! Finish them, you bloody woman!"

Wanting to give him a piece of my mind, I tried to turn towards Hiroto. I didn't have the chance to, however, because I found myself facing the guys while raising my hands up to my sides. No, not this again. I didn't want to kill them, I didn't want to die. Needing to try again, I tried to gain control. I had to. I can't go through with this again.

"Look," Kurama said. "I think… I think she's gaining control over herself."

I looked over at him and felt like I actually was. Balling my hands into fists, I tried to stop summoning water and fire. But I couldn't. I looked over at Hiroto and say that he was smiling at me. I was too late, I couldn't stop gathering the energy. No, I had to do something, anything.

That's when I realized there was one thing I could do. Taking a deep breath, I stopped trying to gather more energy and tried to control the energy that I had gathered. I looked around me at the water and fire and glared at it. They had to be stopped, now. So, instead of sending them towards the gang, I consumed them. I pulled my arms towards myself and crossed them at my chest. As I did so, the water and fire energy flew towards me and entered my body.

"No!" I heard Kurama and Hiroto yell.

Screw the dragon of the darkness flame, this was much worse. I could feel my chest being crushed from this pressure. It was like I was swimming too deep into the ocean. It also felt like I was being burned from the inside out. I couldn't control the elements. I was too weak. They were killing me.

"Aly-Jay!" Kurama said as he kneeled beside me. "Stay with us. Take control."

I looked over to my side and saw Hiei drawing his sword. The last thing I saw was Hiei cutting off Hiroto's head.

"God, damn it!" Hiei yelled. "Back the fuck off. I'm done with you!"

No, please, not again. I looked around expecting to see everyone here, but it was only Hiei and I. After looking over Hiei again, I opened my mouth to try and talk to him. Since I wasn't able to talk to him before, I was a little surprised to find that I actually could this time.

"Please, Hiei. Help me."

"Help you?" he huffed. "Why should I help someone as weak as you?"

"But I don't have control over myself." Wait… was this still the case? I haven't been able to talk before but I can now. Does that mean I do have control?

"You don't have control because you were too weak to fight him. If you had only been stronger you wouldn't be in this mess."

I frowned at him as I felt this painful stab in my chest. Weak. After looking down at myself I realized I was weak. Wasn't I?

"I'm sorry," I whispered. "What do you want me to do?"

Hiei threw off his cloak. "I want you to realize just how weak you really are."

Before I had the chance to reply, Hiei began to summon his dragon. I could only stand there in stunned silence as I watched his dragon appear. Weak. I was weak. I couldn't even defend myself. Those were the only things going through my mind as I felt my body burn.

Screaming. Someone was screaming. I opened my eyes to the brightest light in recorded history. Someone placed their hands on my shoulders so I tried to hit them away.

"Aly-Jay! It's me, Yukina. Relax, you're safe."

I looked around and tried to catch my breath. That's when I realized I was the one screaming. I turned my head to the side and saw Yukina sitting next to me. With a groan, I tried to sit up but she quickly reached out and gently pushed me down. My whole body felt stiff so I let her, that and the fact that I had the worse headache ever. "How long have I been out?" Was I even awake this time?

"Almost a month. How are you feeling?"

"Almost a month?!" I almost shouted but my headache prevented me from doing so.

"Yes. Three weeks. How are you feeling?"  
I could tell that she wasn't willing to give up so easily so I answered. "Honestly? Like I'm dying. I don't think there's a part of me that isn't hurting."

"Here," Yukina said as she handed me a glass of what looked like orange juice. "Genkai told me to give it to you when you woke up since you've lost a lot of blood." I raised an eyebrow at that. God, even that hurt. "Don't worry, it's fresh."

Since I could barely gather the strength to hold onto the glass, Yukina had to help me. I moaned the second the sweetness touched my tongue. It sure did taste fresh. And nice. And wonderful. After I finished the glass, Yukina went to fill another one. I was finishing my second glass when Genkai and Kurama entered.

I insisted that I was sitting up to talk to them, much to Yukina's dismay. It was a struggle to begin with but after I had the chance to crack my back, I felt so much better. I sighed with relief before I was able to face everyone.

"How are you feeling?" Genkai asked.

I'm going to have to get used to this question fast. "Alright, just… in pain."

"Do you remember anything?"

I had to think about it for a second. An image of that demon flashed through my mind. The memory made me jump slightly. I opened my eyes and looked down at my hands which had started to shake.

"I'll take that as a yes," Genkai said gently. "What's the last thing you remember?"

Without fully realizing it, I reached up and touched my neck. Kurama leaned forward and asked if he could take a look. After I nodded, he pushed my hair away to get a better view.

"Odd," he said. What? What's odd? "You seem to have healed perfectly. All your bruises are gone. But the bite mark is still there. It looks like a scar. I don't think it will go away."

My hand came back up to my neck again. A scar? I needed a reminder for all this? I felt myself start to panic. My chest tightened, making it harder to breath. Kurama noticed so he started to gently rub my back. When that didn't work right away, he made me put my head between my legs. That helped, a lot actually.

"Maybe you should rest a bit longer," he suggested.

"No," I said as I tried to push him away. "I've slept for a month. I need to get up and move around."

They seemed to have agreed because Kurama helped me up and move around. My muscles and joints were stiff. But after cracking a few bones and slight stretches, I was able to move around on my own. It wasn't long before we started to head back to our house.

"Where are the guys?" I asked as we walked.

"In town, visiting family."

"Do you ever visit yours?"

Kurama laughed gently. "I actually just got back from visiting mine."

"How's your mom?"

"She's good, actually. Thanks for asking."

There was silence for a second.

"And Hiei?" I asked, hoping he didn't think anything of it.

"He actually left for Demon World." I tripped at that. Did I hear that right? Kurama reached out to make sure I didn't land on my face. "Are you alright?"

I nodded. "I guess my muscles aren't as warmed up as I thought." I brushed myself off before trying to continue. "So he left, huh? Do you know why?"

"He mentioned something about getting a message from Mukuro. And that it was time he went back to see her."

_I'm done with you!_

Wincing from Hiei's voice in my head, I pressed down on my temples.

"Are you okay?" Kurama asked.

"Yeah, it's just my headache."

"Well it's a good thing we made it back to the house. Let me go get you some painkillers."

I took a seat on the couch as Kurama went to the kitchen. When he came back with everything, I looked up at him with a grateful smile. "Thank you so much, Kurama. I think I've lost track of how many times you've handed me this stuff. I don't know what I'll do without you."

We both laughed softly at that. But I felt like being alone. I couldn't get rid of this tearing feeling in my chest. So Hiei had decided to leave. He chose Mukuro. After thanking Kurama again, I got up and headed to my room. I really needed to lie down.

The second I entered my room Mizu meowed and rubbed himself against my legs. I took a seat on my bed and Mizu instantly jumped onto my lap. Thinking it would help, I laid back which allowed Mizu to crawl onto my chest. As he settled down and purred, I began to scratch his head.

That's when the memories began to flow. Almost all of it involved Hiei. I heard his voice. _Please. She's weak, she can't handle her powers. Why would I associate myself with the likes of her?_ Weak. He called me weak. _Back the fuck off. I'm done with you! _And the way he fought back. It felt like he was actually trying to beat me down.

My chest tightened at that. He was right. I was weak. I'm this so-called legendary demon and I couldn't even defend myself. I got caught and used. I actually tried to kill the guys. _Weak_. I'm weak.

Tears began to fall down my cheeks. That only caused my chest to tighten even more.

_Weak._

I closed my eyes tightly to try and help with the headache. An image of Kurama lying on the ground dead flashed through my mind. My eyes opened wide in shock. What was that? Kurama, dead? There's no way that's possible. Was it a dream? If that's the case, what was a memory and what was a dream? I closed my eyes again, and images of all the guys filled my mind. They were all dead.

I didn't deserve to be here with the guys. I don't have the power to measure up. Trying to fight back the tears, I looked over to the side. There was the chair that Hiei sat in when he first came into my room... I can't do it. I had to leave.

At that thought, I placed Mizu aside and sat up. Moving as quickly and quietly as I could, I grabbed one of my duffel bags and started to fit as much as I could in it. When I reached down for one of my books, something shiny caught my eye. I reached out to see what it was. It was my bracelets. I stood up and stared at them.

My chest didn't burn anymore, but there was still a pain. A different kind of pain. Without a second thought, I put them back on.

Once my bag was full, I pulled it over my shoulder. When I was finally ready to go, I grabbed one of my sheets and wrapped Mizu up so he wouldn't try and wiggle out of my arms. I peaked my head out of my door and saw the hallway empty. Trying to be as quiet as I could, I sneaked down the hallway. I paused at the stairs, trying to hear if Kurama was downstairs. It was quiet, so I slowly walked down.

When I finally got outside, I made sure Mizu was wrapped nice and tightly before I ran. I ran as fast as I could. Thanks to my training, I was able to move almost as fast as Hiei. That thought only made me run faster. I refused to cry. Not now. Not yet. So I continued to run. I didn't stop until I had reached the train station. It wasn't until I sat down on the train when I allowed myself to relax slightly. It didn't look like I was being followed.

Once I got off at my stop, I struggled to find some coins to call my mom. Thankfully I was able to grab some at one of my side pockets from my bag.

"Hello?"

The moment I heard her voice, I realized I couldn't hold back the tears anymore. I let them fall, freely. And admittedly, loudly.

"Hello? Aly-Jay? Is that you? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

I forced myself to take a few deep breathes so I could talk. "Can I come home?"

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Can I come home?"

"Yes, of course. I'm here."

The moment the call ended, I walked until there was no one around. When I was finally alone, I began to run again. I didn't stop until I was knocking on her door.

She must have been waiting right at the door because it didn't take her long to answer. There was even tea there waiting for us. At first my mom tried to get me to speak. Asking questions to figure out what was wrong. She finally stopped asking when I started to cry even harder at the "Is it a boy?" question. When I finally cried myself out, my mom helped me into bed to rest.

I woke up the next morning feeling only slightly better. As I got up and started to head into the kitchen, I heard my mom on the phone. Debating if I should just return to my room or continue making my way into the kitchen, I paused outside my door.

"Listen, George." Dad? She's talking to Dad? "I know its last minute but I really think it would be good for her. I don't think she's having a good time here. She needs her friends. Her old life back. Please." There was a pause while she listened to him. "Yes I know. I wouldn't be asking this if I didn't think it would be the best for her. I really think she needs to go back." Another pause. "Thank you. I'll email you her arrival time."

I was standing by the kitchen door when she finally hung up. She froze when she saw me, unsure of what to say. I didn't think she needed to say anything. As I walked forward and wrapped my arms around her. I said the only two words that needed to be said.

"Thank you."


	15. Epilogue

_**Two Years Later**_

"My soul is dark - Oh! quickly string  
The harp I yet can brook to hear;  
And let thy gentle fingers fling  
Its melting murmurs o'er mine ear.  
If in this heart a hope be dear,  
That sound shall charm it forth again:  
If in these eyes there lurk a tear,  
'Twill flow, and cease to burn my brain.

But bid the strain be wild and deep,  
Nor let thy notes of joy be first:  
I tell thee, minstrel, I must weep,  
Or else this heavy heart will burst;  
For it hath been by sorrow nursed,  
And ached in sleepless silence, long;  
And now 'tis doomed to know the worst,  
And break at once - or yield to song."

"You did an amazing job reading that, Aly-Jay. You were really able to bring out the sorrow in the poem. Thank you. Now can anyone tell me what Lord Byron is trying to say here?"

I avoided all eye contact with my professor. This is just what I needed, and some kind sad, mopey, poem to remind me of my depression. As the class started talking about how crying helps the soul or whatever, I couldn't help but think that it was all bullshit. I must have been crying on and off for two years now and I didn't feel any better. Maybe trying to go for an English literature degree was a bad idea.

As the class continued to talk about "souls" and "crying" and whatever else, I found myself playing with my bracelets. While things were going smoothly for the first year, it wasn't long after that when I could feel the pull of my demon sides again. Although, this time it almost felt worse. I didn't have the money to join any kind of dance classes so I would find myself waking up at four in the morning. Whenever that happened I would force myself to get up and go for a run. I had to get some kind of exercise; otherwise I don't think I could sleep at all.

It didn't help that my new step-mother had forced the whole household to go on a diet. She had taken one look at me when I had first arrived to make that decision. Sure, I might have been skinnier than her, but she had curves that I would kill to have. But that didn't matter because there is never any food in the house. Thankfully my dad was able to see how badly it's been affecting me. He might not always be around because of work, but at least he makes the time to give me money for the week so I can feed myself. It also gave me an excuse to stay out of the house longer and away from _her._

The sound of papers being gathered and binders being closed brought me out of my daydream. Class must be over so I gathered my stuff and headed out the door. I must have taken about two steps before I heard someone calling my name.

"Hey, Aly-Jay! Wait up." Ugh. Trevor. "Do you have plans today?"

"Yeah, I have to get home." I really didn't want to deal with him right now.

"Oh come on. You need to go out. Have fun. Enjoy the life as a college student."

While he had a point, I just couldn't bring myself to actually go out and "have fun". When I first came back to Canada, one of the first things I realized was that my friends had refused to talk to me. I didn't call them or send letters while I was at Genkai's so they felt like I had deserted them. I couldn't really blame them, it was kind of true. It didn't make it hurt any less though...

"No, I really need to head home," I said as I opened the door leading to the outside. As we started walking down the path, we passed a group of Koreans.

"Hey," Trevor said, nudging me, "you're Asian, what are they saying?"

I forced myself to bite down on my tongue to stop myself from snapping at him. He did this almost all the time and it offended me every single time. If only he got the hint. "I don't know," I said eventually, "I'm Japanese, and I'm pretty sure they are Korean."

"Lame," he said as we continued to walk.

We continued to head towards the parking lot. I kept my head down, not wanting to give anyone the invitation to start talking again, especially Trevor. Unfortunately, that meant I was more likely to bump into people. This is exactly what happened.

"Oh sor-," the person started to say but the moment we made eye contact she stopped. "Oh, it's you. Never mind."

Did I mention that I go to the same university as my old friends?

"Whoa, that Jessie chick is a real bitch," Trevor said as he watched her walk away.

I picked up all my stuff as quickly as I could, so I could face him. "Look, I've gotta go. I'll see you next week, okay?"

"I'll walk you to your car." Ugh, does he ever give up? I saw Trevor look over my shoulder and frowned. "Whoa, who would have thought that there was someone as short as you."

My breath caught in my throat and I felt my whole body go tense. I was too scared to turn around and look for myself, but I knew I was going to have to turn around eventually. I braced myself as I turned my head to look. And there he was. Standing there. Wearing normal human clothes.

Hiei.

**(Please, please, please, check out my profile for an update regarding A Rare Gem.)**


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